Nepal Govt cuts cash for king
NEPAL: Nepal’s Government scrapped payments to King Gyanendra and
vowed to nationalise royal property in a budget presented to parliament
on Thursday that deals a major blow to the embattled monarch.
The king has been under pressure since fiercely-republican Maoists
signed a peace deal with mainstream parties last year and entered
Kathmandu’s corridors of power. The latest government move adds to signs
that he may soon be removed.
Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat’s 2.6-billion-dollar budget for the
Himalayan nation, one of the world’s poorest, contained no provisions
for the royal palace.
In last year’s budget, the annual royal household allowance had
already been cut from 10.6 million dollars to three million dollars.
Mahat also announced that royal properties dozens of grand palaces
and huge parks would be seized “in the national interest.”
He added that the “nationalisation of the properties of the royal
palace will be implemented on a time-bound basis.”
With former Maoist rebels in government and parliament, analysts said
it was hardly surprising that the budget had pulled the financial plug
on the palace.
“The government has not allocated any money in this year’s budget for
the king... the royal budget has been totally scrapped,” said Prem
Khanal, a senior business reporter at the English-language Kathmandu
Post newspaper.
“If any money had been allocated for the palace, it would have been
unlikely to have been approved,” he said.
Nepal’s Maoists welcomed the scrapping of cash for the palace.
Kathmandu, Friday, AFP
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