The government is ending MP Development Fund but is set to increase the budget for Electoral Constituency Infrastructure Special Program.
Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has told lawmakers close to him that the fund of Rs 5 million that was provided to all lawmakers will not be continued. The amount for Electoral Constituency Infrastructure Special Program provided to those elected through the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system, however, is set to be increased from Rs 30 million.
"We will not get the amount for MP Development Fund," a CPN lawmaker, who was lobbying for budget for the fund, told Setopati. "We have been told that the budget for Electoral Constituency Infrastructure Special Program will be raised to Rs 50 million."
The lawmakers elected through the FPTP system had the rights to select projects worth Rs 10 million for the fiscal year 2071/72 under the Electoral Constituency Infrastructure Special Program when Ram Sharan Mahat was finance minister. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who succeeded him, increased that to Rs 30 million. The lawmakers elected through the FPTP system would spend the amount in their respective constituency through the local development officer in the district. All the lawmakers would individually get to spend the Rs 5 million provided under the MP Development Fund.
The lawmakers have been lobbying for Rs 100 million for each constituency arguing that the area of constituencies has increased now. CPN lawmakers had collectively met PM Oli and Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada to put pressure for that.
"Lawmakers from our own party have put intense pressure. We can't say what will happen to MP Development Fund. But we have been told that Electoral Constituency Infrastructure Special Program will continue," a minister confided.
The minister added there is a possibility that the budget for Electoral Constituency Infrastructure Special Program will be continued by preparing a working procedure to select projects through a committee headed by the directly elected lawmaker and spend the budget.
