19 Chait, Janakpurdham. The then President Dr. Sapahi water supply scheme started in the financial year 2064/65 in Laxminia Rural Municipality-4, Sapahi of Ramvaran Yadav’s village Dhanusha.

However, this scheme, which was started with the aim of providing clean drinking water to 1000 households, has been stalled for 18 years. This plan is limited to the construction of the overhead tank, so far the pipe has yet to be installed.

The main reason for not being able to implement the plan is lack of budget. According to Sanjeev Kumar Sah, Chief of Water Supply Division Office, Mahottari, another 2 crore rupees are required to complete the scheme. But the budget has not been allocated since the last three financial years.

By managing a budget of 2 million rupees, the scheme can be put into operation by connecting the pipe with local labor donations. But the government did not allocate the budget for three years, he said.

This is just an example. There are 370 such water supply projects in 8 districts of Madhesh province. Those plans that started two decades ago have not been completed due to lack of adequate budget allocation. Neither the union government has shown any interest in these projects, which have been transferred from the federal government to the state government, nor is it a priority of the state government.

Recently, as the wells and wells are drying up, the problem of drinking water in Madhesh is becoming serious. According to Ramkumar Khang, Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Irrigation and Water Supply of Madhesh Province, about 10 billion rupees will be required to complete all these plans. But in the current financial year only 16 million rupees have been allocated in the budget.

There are 370 schemes for food and water, a budget of 10 billion is needed to complete them. It is difficult to say when these plans will be completed due to very low budget allocation every year, he said.

About 70 irrigation schemes under this ministry are also in a similar situation. No budget has been allocated this year for that plan, which can be completed at a cost of around 1 billion 25 million rupees.

The federal government has also been providing only minimal subsidies. After the transfer, although the provincial government is responsible for the plan, it does not seem to pay much attention to its implementation.

The plans that have been transferred from the federal government are under the responsibility of the state government. But the provincial government does not seem to be very interested in big plans of such importance. The priority is focused on small projects”, said an official.

It seems that about 11 and a half billion rupees will be required to complete the big and sick projects under the Ministry of Energy, Irrigation and Water Supply. The budget has been dispersed and allocated to small projects.

Through the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, 64 roads are being constructed under the ‘One Constituency, One Road’ program of Madhesh government. According to the ministry, about 6 billion more rupees are needed to complete those road plans. But in the current financial year, only 1.6 billion rupees have been allocated, said Sanjay Kumar Sah, secretary of the ministry.

According to him, four road schemes are being implemented with the supplementary grant of the federal government, including three schemes in Saptari and one scheme in Parsa. It is seen that a budget of around 1 billion rupees will be required to complete those plans.

75 crore rupees are required to complete the incomplete schemes related to hygiene and beautification during the leadership of Chief Minister Lal Babu Raut, which has been transferred to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development of Madhesh.

Similarly, about 2.5 billion rupees are needed to complete the provincial multi-year road and bridge plans. Under these schemes, there are 4 schemes in Saptari, 7 schemes in Mahottari, 9 schemes in Sarlahi and 9 schemes in Rautahat.

Under Janata Awas, Nidhi and Madan Bhandari Awas Yojana, about 2 billion rupees are needed to complete the construction of unfinished houses of Dalit and poor families. But a low budget has been allocated. Because of this, these plans have been overshadowed.

According to Shah, the secretary of the ministry, more than 12 billion rupees is needed to complete the old plans under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure. But the Madhesh government has not been able to allocate enough budget for such schemes.

A budget of more than 24 billion rupees seems to be required to complete the large unfinished Gaurav projects under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and the Ministry of Energy, Irrigation and Water Supply. But the government’s priority seems to be focused on small and piecemeal projects.

An example of this is the work done through the consumer committee, which has recently been re-introduced by the government. There have been allegations of irregularities like ‘lottery buying and selling’ while working through the consumer committee. Madhesh province is discredited by this. However, the government led by Krishna Prasad Yadav is leading to work through this committee.

Meanwhile, the Madhesh government is under financial pressure. Finance Minister Sunil Kumar Yadav of the then Satish Kumar Singh-led government of Janmaat Party has estimated that the budget of 46.58 billion 33 lakh 51 thousand rupees will decrease by more than 12 billion rupees. At present, the funds available for development expenses in the balance of the Madhesh government are low.

According to an MP, there was talk of surrendering schemes worth up to 25 lakhs. But with the efforts of the minister, the party and their MPs, the government has again moved towards the implementation of schemes worth up to 2.5 lakh through the consumer committee.

Therefore, the distribution of consumer committee letters has already started from the ministries and subordinate offices of Madhesh government. As a result of which, the state parliamentarians, their relatives, activists and middlemen have started a race to get the letter of the consumer committee in the ministries and other subordinate bodies.

A secretary of the Madhesh government says that due to piecemeal plans, the Madhesh government will be discredited and when the local level implements such plans, they will not even feel the sense of belonging to the provincial government.

‘The Madhesh government should come up with middle and noble plans that are lower than the federal government and a little higher than the local government, they should be given priority,’ says the secretary, ‘but the Madhesh government has been discredited by implementing plans of the same nature as the local level.’