The finance minister said he and the Finance Ministry were not to blame for the delay in budget announcement.[break]
Speaking at an interaction Sunday, he said the demands of the United Democratic Madhesi Frong will be addressed soon on the basis of political consensus.
Saying the leaders of Morcha did not take any stance over the issues of budget, Adhikari added nothing was changed in the budget in the second day.
Adhikari said he will provide detail information to the parliamentary probe special committee, formed by the Legislature-Parliament to probe into the budget information leakage, about the budget preparation process on Monday.
The finance minister said he reached the Legislature-Parliament on Thursday to read out the budget by taking some 700 copies of budget and registered them at the secretariat of the Legislature-Parliament and some copies of the budget were also distributed but the budget copies were made public though he urged not to make the budget public by considering the interests of the country.
The finance minister also announced that he will not step down.
On the occasion, he claimed that the target of revenue collection of Rs 247 billion is possible as the package of reforms have been included in agriculture, industry, water resources and other sectors in the new budget.
He also claimed that the foreign assistance of Rs. 100 billion is also possible as the foreign donor agencies have already knocked at the door of the Finance Ministry to assist as high as Rs. 300 billion.
Budget positive: Birgunj entrepreneurs
The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry hailed the budget as it has tried to bring some positive programmes for the national economic prosperity. But the chapter feared whether or not the investment friendly environment will be guaranteed.
The budget at large is positive for it has given priority to agriculture, cooperatives, infrastructure development, road construction and others.
Similarly, giving due priority to education, health sector, announcement to bring social security act, make industrial sector peace zone and salary increment of the government employees are other positive aspects of the budget, said the industrialists.
The budget programme is praiseworthy as it included fast-track road construction to connect Terai with the Capital, second international airport construction in Nijgadh, construction of postal highway and Mid-Hill Highway, promotion of Birgunj-Pathalaiya roadway which contribute enough for the national development, said Chairman of the Birgunj chapter Ashok Tenami.
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