Palungtar Municipality of Gorkha district has presented a budget of Rs. 797.979 million for the fiscal year 2083/084.
The budget presented by Deputy Mayor Vandana Pandey at the 19th Municipal Assembly prioritized agriculture, education, health, infrastructure development, employment creation, social security, good governance, and environmental protection.
According to the proposed budget, it is estimated that Rs 652.34 million will be received from the federal government through financial equalization grants, conditional grants, and revenue sharing. Similarly, Rs 46.74 million is expected to be received from the Gandaki Province government. The municipality has set a target of collecting Rs 40 million in internal revenue, while a balance of Rs 60 million has also been included in the budget.
The municipality has given special priority to the agriculture and animal husbandry sector in the coming year. It has been stated that the marketing of agricultural products, operation of agricultural ambulances, promotion of oranges and indigenous crops, establishment of land banks, and subsidy programs based on milk production will be continued. Arrangements have been made to provide a subsidy of Rs 3 per liter to farmers for milk production.
Similarly, Rs 315.9 million has been allocated for the education sector. The budget mentions that the SEE-targeted hostel program, city-level examination, student accident insurance, scholarships for underprivileged students, and educational quality improvement programs will be run.
Similarly, Rs 89.74 million has been allocated for the health sector. Arrangements have been made in the budget to operate Gaikhur Health Post as a city-level basic hospital, continue free medicine distribution, operate mobile health services with specialist doctors, and continue municipal programs for impoverished patients. The municipality has also set a goal of declaring Palungtar a child-friendly local government municipality by Chaitra 2083. A budget of Rs 4 million has been allocated for this.
The municipality has stated that the budget presented with the slogan ‘Campaign to build the foundation of socialism, beautiful and prosperous Palungtar is our pride’ aims to improve the living standards of the city’s residents through increasing agricultural production, creating employment, providing quality education, convenient health services, and building sustainable infrastructure.
