Pandey urged the Speaker to arrange the time for tabling the budget in parliament not later than the first week of November. [break]"We have to present the budget before the Tihar festival and the House must pass it by mid-November," Pandey told reporters after holding a meeting with Nembang at the latter´s office at Singha Durbar.
The minister said that during the meeting he stressed the need to take the initiative to pass the budget at the earliest so as to avoid any financial crisis. "If we fail to pass the budget by mid-November, work on development projects will be halted and there will be serious financial implications in various sectors," Pandey said.
Finance Secretary Rameshware Khanal, Revenue Secretary Krishnahari Baskota, Advisor at the ministry Keshav Acharya and Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr. Jagdish Chandra Pokharel were also present during the meeting.
At the meeting, they committed themsleves to present to the Speaker on Tuesday a detail picture of the possible financial situation that may arise due to delay in endorsing the annual budget.
In response, Nembang said he would inform the ministry about the date for tabling the budget after consulting leaders from the opposition as well as other political parties.
The Speaker said he would also table the issue as one of the agenda items for discussion at the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of parliament scheduled for Tuesday.
Though the government requested the Speaker to take the initiative for budget endorsement by the House, leaders from other political parties have accused the ruling CPN-UML of not consulting other parties on how to pass the budget.
A source at the parliament secretariat said that though there are various complications in endorsing the budget due to time constraints and the caretaker status of the incumbent government, the ruling party leaders have not held sufficient discussions on these matters with the other parties.
"First, the government is a caretaker one, secondly we have limited time and thirdly the ministry is planning to present the annual budget without first presenting its policy and program. Therefore, the parties need to reach an agreement on all these issues," the source said.
According to officials at the parliament secretariat, the constitution and legal provisions in this connection are silent about whether the government can present an annual budget without first introducing its policy and program.
"But in practice parliament in the past has not brought any budget without first introducing the policy and program," the source said. Sources also said a new practice in parliament can be established only through political understanding among the parties.
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