Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dr Bhattarai's sermon to senior officials

Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai today directed secretaries to be more result-oriented than process-oriented. "Bureaucracy should change its old mind-set and be more result-oriented," he said directing the secretaries today.
The first finance minister of the Democratic Republic of Nepal Bhattaria also requested the senior officials to complete the stipulated works within the set time frame for the better service delivery.
Though revenue collection -- that exceeding the target -- is satisfactory, the development expenditure is negligible, he reminded the bureaucrats. Out of the total expenditure, only Rs 47 billion -- that is only 22 per cent of the total allocation -- has been spent.
"The budget itself was announced late and if we donot seriously maintain the time frame, the allocated development expenditure would be wasted," one of the chief ideologues of the Maoist party that is leading the country said, adding that the budgetary allocation cannot be changed. He also showed dissatisfaction over the delay in passing the programmes from National Planning Commission. "The programmes should have been passed within October," the rebel-turned-minister said.
The finance secretary (revenue) Krishnahari Baskota presented the progress report of four government corporations -- Hetauda Kapada Uddhyog, Gorakhkali Rabar Udhyog, Biratnagar Jute Mill and Krishi Aujar Karkhana -- as the budget had planned to revamp them. He also apprised the meeting -- that will continue on Thursday also -- of Rs 500 million Self-Employment Programme and the finance ministry's take on proposed Infrastructure Development Bank.

Bhatta for law amendment
KATHMANDU: Lekhraj Bhatta, minister for Labour and Transport Management, speaking at a press meet organised by the ministry and Safe Migration on the occasion of 18th International Migration Day here today said the ministry was planning to amend the existing laws and regulations to utilize the remittance and curb the malpractices and fraudulent activities in the foreign employment. He also informed that a taskforce was being formed to effectively implement 10 per cent reservation scheme for the oppressed, suppressed, conflict victims and people from remote areas for the foreign employment. Although there is growing demand of women workers in international market, the government has banned them going to Malaysia and Saudi Arab, according to the National Network for Migration. "However, it is against the Foreign Employment Act- 2064 BS," they said. Bhatta said that tussle between industrialists and labour is evident but it should be resolved through dialogue. "Government is doing its best to help operate industries smoothly," he added.

No comments: