Far-West. The state of budget vacuum has been eliminated in the Far-Western Province.

Today’s meeting of the Provincial Assembly ended the three-month-old budget void with the passage of the budget for the fiscal year 2083/84 with a majority amid boycott by the main opposition Nepali Congress.

On Sunday, Minister for Economic Affairs Chakra Bahadur Malla presented a budget of Rs 37.70 billion in the Provincial Assembly. The budget was tabled in the Provincial Assembly on the same day. Even before the discussion on the budget started, the dispute escalated.

The process had moved ahead after the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) agreed to amend the budget and investigate the disputed issues and bring the supplementary budget by November 30.

The source of expenditure of the budget is Rs. 1.72 billion from internal revenue mobilization, Rs. 10.24 billion from revenue allocation from the Government of Nepal. It is estimated that Rs. 70 million will be received from the allocation of federal royalty, Rs. 9.63 billion will be received from the Government of Nepal, Rs. 9.65 billion will be saved from the allocation for the fiscal year 2082/83, Rs. 6.03 billion will be received from conditional grants, Rs. 388 million will be received from federal supplementary grants and Rs. 527.6 million will be received from special grants.

Earlier, the then Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah-led government had presented the budget on June 14, but the budget could not be passed after the change in the ruling alliance. On July 29, a new government was formed under the leadership of Khagaraj Bhatta, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), with the support of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML).

Speaker Bhandari informed the House that the next meeting of the Province Assembly has been adjourned until further notice.