Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, today inaugurated the 21st town council of the Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City amid a programme here on Friday.

On the occasion, he said the development of Pokhara was in government's priority. "The government is committed to the development of Pokhara, the biggest tourist hub of the country."

Pointing out the need of formulating an extensive master plan for the overall development of Pokhara, he said Pokhara's development would be significant to the country's development as such.

"It is necessary that the State pays its attention to developing Pokhara into a smart city, and the role of the community and the private sector is equally important for this," he asserted.

At the programme, Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City executive officer Nawaraj Dhungana presented the estimated budget, policy and programmes of the sub-metropolis for the Fiscal Year 2017/2018.

As per the budget estimates, the total income is put at approximately Rs 1 billion 285 million and 595 thousand. Of this Rs 626 million 595 thousand is the estimated income from internal sources while Rs 659 million is the income from external sources.

Similarly, towards expenditure heads, Rs 560 million has been earmarked towards infrastructure development sector, Rs 371 million 600 thousand towards population and social development sector, Rs 99.555 million towards agriculture, forestry and environment, Rs 32.296 million towards land and water resource development and Rs 222 million 144 thousand towards administration and organisation.

Dhungana said bringing the large tax-payers into the tax net, environment conservation, protection of public property, conservation of the Phewa Lake, tourism and infrastructure development, easy service delivery, culture preservation, women empowerment and development of the indigenous nationalities, senior citizens and backward areas, among others have been prioritised in the Sub-metropolis' policy and programme for the next fiscal year. RSS