“The prime minister has reconstituted the AISC in haste before leaving for a foreign trip,” said Maoist lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota speaking at the parliament on Tuesday. “The government has also violated the Comprehensive Peace Accord by creating a new post of major general in the Nepal Army,” Devkota said.
On Monday, the government upgraded legal department and promoted Brigadier General BA Kumar Sharma, who heads the department, to the post of major general. Previously, the legal department was headed by a brigadier general. "It is a conspiracy to increase the numerical strength of the army,” he said. He also called on the political parties to stop from backing “military supremacy”.
Meanwhile, lawmakers cutting across party lines have expressed doubts over the implementation of the budget for fiscal year 2009/10 in the parliament.
Rastriya Janashakti Party leader Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani said that the budget failed to accommodate the voices of all the political parties that had lent support to the formation of the UML-led government. "It is not the budget of all the 22 political parties supporting the government," Lohani said.
Dr Lohani, who is also a former finance minister, expressed doubts over the successful implementation of the budget. He argued the government has falsely claimed that it could generate 25,000MW electricity and said this had put the implementation of the whole budget in doubt. According to him, the budget has also failed to give priority to agricultural and industrial sectors.
Nepali Congress leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said the budget for the new fiscal year is positive, but he expressed doubt over its implementation. Mahat lauded the government for introducing some good programs, but he argued that the implementation of the budget is difficult due to poor state mechanism.
UML leader Bijaya Kumar Paudel said that the government has begun a new political culture by giving continuity to last year´s good programs. He also said the budget is socialism-oriented. But Paudel argued that controlling the prices of consumer goods, maintaining law and order, unemployment would be the major challenges of the government.
Brijesh Kumar Gupta of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party said that revenue collection and program implementation are challenging aspects. He complained that the budget has ignored the culture of political consensus.
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