Government offices in the Far West remain unspent due to lack of budget approval

Dhangadhi: The Far West Provincial Government has been unable to get the budget for the current fiscal year 2083/84 passed by the Provincial Assembly, leaving government offices under the provincial government without any expenditure. Even though the new fiscal year has begun, the budget has not been approved, creating a budget vacuum in the province.

The direct impact of the budget shortage has been especially felt in offices related to development and construction. Since the budget brought by the government has not been approved, new plans have not been implemented, and offices are also facing difficulties in managing necessary expenses.

According to Ram Chandra Khatri, Chief of the Physical Infrastructure Development Office, the work of multi-year projects has not been affected. He said that the government has already ensured resources for those projects and the contract process has been completed, so the construction work is progressing regularly.

According to him, the office is spending from the contingency heading for monitoring, inspection and other necessary work of the multi-year plan. He said that as per the legal provisions, up to three percent contingency can be spent on such projects, so there is no problem in conducting monitoring and other activities.

However, the new and annual plans of the current fiscal year have not been implemented due to lack of budget. There is also difficulty in managing the daily expenses, fuel, vehicle operation and other administrative expenses required for office operations.

Head of the Provincial Controller of Accounts Office, Vasudev Joshi, said that even though budget expenditure has been stopped, the regular administrative work of the office has not been affected. According to him, more problems have been seen in offices related to development and construction.

This is not the first time that the budget has been empty in the Far West Province. In the fiscal year 2081/82, the provincial government offices were operated without a budget for about two months as the budget could not be passed on time. Now, with the same situation repeating itself, there is growing concern that development projects and new programs will be affected. -Excerpt from Gorkhapatra