Members of the committee led by Deputy Speaker Purna Kumari Subedi, who is also the deputy head of the 17-member monitoring panel, on Sunday called on Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal and drew his attention toward the gravity of the issue. Subedi led the delegation as Speaker Subas Nembang, who heads the committee, is currently on a visit to India.[break]
“The prime minister has assured that he would take initiatives toward allocating sufficient fund for Lumbini´s development with priority in the upcoming budget,” said Deputy Speaker Subedi, after the meeting with Khanal.
They informed the prime minister that the government has to allocate at least Rs 2.5 billion to accomplish the tasks for the upcoming year as per the Lumbini Development Master Plan.
The committee drew the prime minister´s attention toward the issue as the committee members´ meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bharatmohan Adhikari last week yielded no result. Adhikari, during the talks with the members, had indicated that it was not possible for the government to allocate billions of rupees for the purpose. According to officials, the government is planning to allocate 110 million rupees as in the current fiscal budget.
The parliament meeting on June 3 formed the committee to monitor the implementation of the parliament stricture on developing Lumbini as an International Peace City.
The stricture motion for developing Gautam Buddha´s birthplace as an International Peace City and to accomplish the remaining tasks of the Master Plan for Lumbini Development within a period of three years was endorsed by the parliament meeting on April 2, 2010.
The government´s policy and programs presented last week has stated, “The concept of regional development covering Ramgram in Nawalparasi, Devdaha in Rupandehi and Tilaurakot in Kapilvastu will be brought into implementation, thus expanding the coverage of Lumbini Area.” But members of the committee said the government needs to allocate around three billion rupees to materialize the plan.
Deputy speaker, members irked
The members who visited Khanal at the prime minister´s office in Singha Durbar were, however, irked to find that the prime minister was not accompanied by finance minister and other officials who were supposed to be there at the meeting. “The finance minister, vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission and other officials involved in making the budget were supposed attend the meeting, but we were taken by surprise to not see them there,” said a committee member present at the meeting.
According to the member, Deputy Speaker Subedi felt insulted over their absence. “Their absence is an insult to the parliament committee as the meeting was fixed with a prior notice,” a participant quoted Subedi as saying.
Deep Kumar Upadhyay, Minendra Rijal, Hirdayesh Tripathi, Mangalsiddhi Manandhar, Sarala Regmi and the committee´s secretary Mukunda Sharma were among others who attended the meeting with the prime minister.
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