The budget was finalized by the metropolitan city administration and representatives of political parties on July 16 through an ´unlawfully´ held Metropolitan council meeting but it has not yet been officially endorsed because of some differences between the city administration and political representatives regarding the allocation of high-cost projects.[break]
High-ranking sources said that one of the main reasons behind the delay in budget announcement is a dispute over a proposal forwarded by a CPN (UML)-affiliated trade union with the backing of the party´s representatives to make a grant of Rs 10 million to a privately run hospital.
The metropolitan administration is still trying to incorporate the grant to Manmohan Memorial Hospital in the budget, bowing to a campaign that has strong support from the CPN (UML)-led government, sources said. The proposal would have been sanctioned through a council meeting had the representatives of other political parties not objected.
"The budget was finalized without addressing the proposal, but we know well that the delay is being caused to include that proposal by any means," officials said.
CPN (UML) leader and former local development minister Rajendra Pandey is founding promoter of the hospital located at Sorakhutte in the capital.
The metropolitan budget turned controversial last year owing to several decisions to give similar grants to private schools.
The dispute over the CPN (UML)-backed proposal is only an example of how political interests are at work in the largest urban budget in the country.
While preparing the budget, political parties agreed to allocate Rs 100 million for ´necessary´ development projects. "The funds will be divided among projects picked by the parties," said an official.
"I am going to handle a few projects worth RS 3 million," said the representative of a small party requesting anonymity.
This easy pool of funds will come in handy for the political parties and the arrangement of more than half the budget in the name of specific and scheduled projects is also fudgy.
"Besides that pool and the general expenditure of Rs 650 million, the remaining part of the budget will be for projects sanctioned by party representatives whose political interests inform every allocation decision," officials said.
As with the overall functioning of the metropolitan city for some years now, the capital city´s budget has always been prepared by political party representatives who are still violating government guidelines for political representation in local bodies in the absence of elected local representatives.
The government, in its directives, has clearly specified a one-party one-representative system to set up an all-party mechanism to support the functioning of local bodies. Political parties have sent up to three representatives each to Kathmandu Metropolitan City. "This is illegal and has the sole purpose of gnawing away at resources as much as possible," officials said.
Meanwhile, Kathmandu Metropolitan City also did not bother to form a budget committee as stipulated by the directives. "As per the directives, it had to include in the budget committee women, the disabled, ethnic groups and dalits, among others, by way of their involvement in decision-making," said officials. "This is an illegal budget committee."
Meanwhile, the metropolitan administration has brought its department heads into the council meetings in lieu of ward secretaries. "The secretaries, who take charge of everything in the absence of elected representatives, have not been involved in the budget process. This is something very weird and is not practiced elsewhere," said officials.
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