Madhesh Provincial Assembly meeting obstructed over dispute on budget probe panel

JANAKPUR, July 12: A meeting of the Provincial Assembly of Madhesh Province was obstructed today due to protests by opposition parties.

CPN (Maoist Center) leader Yubaraj Bhattarai opposed the formation of a probe committee created to address errors in the upcoming fiscal year's budget, stating that it was not formed in accordance with Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh’s earlier commitments.

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The opposition objected particularly to the inclusion of Provincial Physical Infrastructure Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav in the committee. They have vowed to continue the obstruction until his name is removed.

Speaker Ram Chandra Mandal acknowledged that including a minister in such a probe committee is an unprecedented practice, as is forming such a committee while the government remains in the minority. He urged lawmakers to allow the passage of the Finance Bill and to raise objections during the Appropriation Bill debate instead.

Despite Speaker Mandal allocating time to Provincial Finance Minister Sunil Kumar Yadav to respond, the opposition surrounded the rostrum, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the session for ten minutes.

The members of the disputed committee include Ram Ashish Yadav (Chief Whip, Janata Samajwadi Party), Jawahar Lal Kushwaha (Maoist Center), Kanish Patel (Chief Whip, CPN Unified Socialist), Saroj Kumar Yadav (Minister for Physical Infrastructure of Madhesh Province, CPN-UML), and Krishna Yadav (Nepali Congress Parliamentary Leader for the province).