Lawmakers from various parties on Tuesday strongly criticised the increased budget allocation under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation in Dhanusha, Jhapa, Chitwan and Gorkha districts and demanded that the government stop favouring the home districts of powerful politicians in budget decisions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation Raghubir Mahaseth represents Dhanusha district, while Jhapa is the home district of CPN-UML chairman KP Oli. Mahaseth is also a UML leader.

Venting his ire against the biased budget distribution, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Rajendra Lingden tore up a copy of the budget of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation while speaking from the Parliament’s podium.

Not only Lingden, but lawmakers from the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, and the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) also voiced concerns over the disproportionate budget distribution in some home districts and electoral constituencies of powerful leaders like the prime minister, ministers, and party leaders.

Pushpa Chaudhary of the Nepali Congress spoke in support of Lingden’s action. “Ministers are only allocating budgets to their constituencies and districts. We support the way Lingden tore up the budget copy.”

Former finance minister and Congress leader Prakash Sharan Mahat and other lawmakers from the party also criticised the budget.

After a huge ruckus from both ruling and opposition benches, Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun is now facing difficult days as he aims to pass the budget by the end of this week.

Before tearing up the budget copy for physical infrastructure and transport, Chairman Lingden said, “I hardly ever express anger. But when I received the budget copy from the physical planning and infrastructure ministry, I was furious. I want to tear it up and throw it away,” said Lingden.

Then he tore up the budget copy of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation in front of three deputy prime ministers—Mahaseth, Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Rabi Lamichhane.

“It might be against parliamentary norms, so I am not throwing it where it needs to be thrown. I am keeping it with me. This is not just my opinion and imagination. Every lawmaker in this chamber feels the same, except for those from the four privileged constituencies. How can we tolerate such misuse and exploitation of state resources?” Lingden said. The four election constituencies Lingden referred to include one in Gorkha, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s constituency, a constituency of UML chair Oli in Jhapa, along with two constituencies of Dhanusha, Minister Mahaseth’s home district.

RPP lawmaker Gyan Bahadur Shahi, who represents Jumla district, came up with comparative data on budget allocations in Jhapa, Dhanusha and the entire Karnali Province. According to Shahi, the two election constituencies of Dhanusha 4 and 5 alone have received Rs8.477 billion from the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, while Jhapa district has received Rs6.70 billion. But the ten districts of Karnali province have received just Rs7 billion from the same ministry, Shahi said.

“The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation has received Rs150.53 billion, of which more than ten percent have been allocated to Dhanusha and Jhapa districts, but the entire Karnali province has received only 4.89 percent. Why is there such discrimination between Jhapa and Dhanusha on one hand and the entire Karnali province on the other?” asked Shahi.

“Are you the minister of the entire country or just of Jhapa and Dhanusha districts?” Shahi asked Minister Mahaseth.

“No one has the right to undermine or neglect Karnali province. Otherwise, we will form a separate [provincial] party in Karnali.”

Another RPP lawmaker, Dipak Bahadur Singh, also criticised the budget for the same reason.

There is opposition inside the UML too. Some RSP ministers are also unhappy with the budget and have publicly said they could quit the government anytime.

Raghuji Pant of the UML said that ministers should represent the entire country, not just a particular district.

Some lawmakers pointed out that due to the prime minister’s pressure, a substantial amount of the budget has been allocated for Chitwan, his home district where his daughter Renu Dahal serves as the mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City.

While expressing dissatisfaction with the budget distribution, Pant said the directly elected members of Parliament represent diverse castes, genders, and communities, and so they represent the entire country. “They should serve the entire country, not just their districts or constituencies,” he said.

A few other UML lawmakers including Gokul Bastola, Surya Thapa also expressed disappointment over the “disproportionate distribution of funds” to the constituencies and powerful leaders.

Similarly, two RSP lawmakers, Sishir Khanal and Santosh Pariyar, described the budget distribution as a form of neo-feudalism.

“The budget has not been distributed fairly,” said Khanal. “If we see the tendency of budget allocation over the past two years, districts and constituencies of powerful leaders and ministers have received larger budgets, indicating a failure in fair allocation.”

In the last budget, districts like Dadheldhura, Nuwakot, Salyan and Chitwan received significant amounts, and this year, Rolpa, Dhanusha, Jhapa, Gorkha have done so.

“Isn’t the concentration of funds in the districts of powerful people a form of neo-feudalism? In feudal times, those in power would distribute land and other assets. Today those in power are centralising resources in their constituencies,” said Khanal.

Abdul Khan of the Janamat Party criticised the allocations of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation as leader-oriented.

“The National Planning Commission's lack of farsightedness has held back the country’s developmental endeavours.”