Lawmakers present proposal to cut budget expenditure of ministries

Lawmakers have presented proposals to slash expenditure under the topics related to various ministries in the Appropriations Bill, 2023, in course of the ministry-by-ministry deliberations on the Bill in the House of Representatives today.

Lawmaker Narayan Prasad Acharya, Prem Suwal, Bhagawati Chaudhary and Surya Prasad Dhakal proposed for cutting back the expenditure amount under various appropriation headings related to several ministries.

Acharya proposed reducing the expenditure under the appropriation head related to the Ministry of Forests and Environment and maintaining it at one rupee, stating that the budget was not balanced and it has not adopted the policy of utilization of natural resources as well as failed to link the forests to the life and prosperity of the citizen.

He said the budget was not aligned to the nation's needs and called for revisions in it and cutting the expenditures.

Similarly, lawmaker Suwal proposed slashing of the expenditures under the heading of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens and the Ministry of Youth and Sports and maintaining the expenditure at one rupee. He argued that the expenditure has to be cut as the budget failed to mention the topic of death penalty to the large-scale corrupts and traitors.

He said provisions should be made for providing free school and university education to the working women, for stamping out the chhaupadi practice, for the construction of child care centres and children's parks in every locality. He said the topic of setting up appropriate infrastructure for the senior citizens has not been included in the budget.

Lawmaker Chaudhary proposed cutting the expenditure under the heading of Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens in the Appropriation Bill, 2023 and maintaining at one rupee.

She said the Bill did not make a decision to construct the Women, Children and Senior Citizen Shelter House each in seven provinces. Chaudhary called for allocating the budget for creating employment for people with disability and for enhancing their skills and capacity. She also demanded earmarking budget for developing women entrepreneurship.

Likewise, lawmaker Dhakal proposed for cutting the expenditure of the Bill under the heading related to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and maintaining it at one rupee. He claimed that the budget failed to address the needs of any section of society, stating that the government failed to include in the Bill the suggestions given by lawmakers during the general discussions on the policies and programmes of the government.

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