Senior leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and candidate from Jhapa–5, Balen Shah, has said that the provincial governance system operates with relatively low expenditure. He stated that the country’s economic problems were not caused by the salaries drawn by ministers and members of parliament.
“There is minimal expenditure in the provincial structure, and the spending on salaries is limited,” Shah said while interacting with local residents of Kamal Rural Municipality in Jhapa on Tuesday. “The country has not sunk because of the salaries taken by ministers and lawmakers.”
Shah made the remarks in response to a local resident who argued that scrapping the provincial structure would free up sufficient budget for sectors such as education and health.
During the interaction, the local resident also shared his personal experience of having lived in Gulf countries for 20 years, saying that he returned to Nepal without being able to save enough capital to invest domestically.
The same individual asked Shah whether it was possible to make education and healthcare either fully free or at least more affordable for the general public. In response, Shah said that support for economically disadvantaged students was already in place.
“Education has been declared free in the constitution, but there is no budget,” he said. “Those without money must still be able to access education and healthcare, while those with money should be allowed to conduct business.”
