Speaker Ghimire instructs govt to use actual name of province instead of naming province with number

KATHMANDU, June 20: Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Devraj Ghimire has instructed the government to rectify numerical references and use the actual names of the provinces in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

During a meeting of the HoR on Tuesday, Members of Parliament (MPs) protested that the names of a province was omitted in the appropriation bill as well as the Red Book submitted by the Ministry of Urban Development for the next fiscal year. The meeting, which was adjourned for some time due to the protest, resumed after the lower house speaker issued this instruction to the government.

"I will once again instruct the concerned ministry to pay attention to the subjects mentioned in the appropriation bill that will be edited annually and include the name of the province passed by the Provincial Assembly, particularly in cases where it has not been mentioned. This is to ensure accuracy and draw attention to this matter," Speaker Ghimire said, adding, “Questions were raised by the MPs regarding this issue that the name of the province is represented by a number. I will instruct the concerned ministry to rectify it by replacing the number with the actual name of the province.”

Members of Parliament, including Surya Bahadur Thapa Kshetri, Chhabi Lal Bishwokarma, Ramesh Lekhak, and Raghuji Panta, raised the issue of not mentioning the province's name in the appropriation bill.

The lower house meeting on Tuesday held group discussions on the topics related to the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Water Supply, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.