By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : The number 13, traditionally associated with bad luck, is going to prove unlucky for Nepal's King Gyanendra and the royal family with the new budget, to be unveiled on July 13, going to drastically reduce the allowances of the palace.
"The palace will get a fund of only NRS 30 million," Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said in an interview with the Nepali daily Annapurna Post Friday.
"That sum too will be taxed."
After King Gyanendra tried to rule the kingdom by staging a coup in 2005, he increased the royal budget through a decree. During the 15 months of his absolute reign, marked by fiscal mismanagement and arbitrary expenditure, the palace had the power to spend over NRS 6500 million.
After his ascension to the throne in June 2001, King Gyanendra began manipulating the government from October 2002, when he sacked the them prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and installed three successive premiers of his own choice before deciding to head the cabinet himself in 2005.
Between 2002 and early 2006, before he was forced to step down, the king spent NRS 280 million on buying Rolls Royces and Jaguars in a country that is among the poorest in the world.
However, after a public revolt ended his regime in April 2006, the new government that came to power allocated a little over NRS 210 million for the royal family in its budget for 2006-7.
Now the new budget for 2007-8 to be tabled in parliament on July 13 will see still more drastic cuts.
The change comes after the left parties in the ruling right-party coalition, especially the Maoists and the Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist Leninist, exerted great pressure on the government to produce a "people's budget".
This year, a new constitution came into effect, putting Nepal's 238-year-old monarchy on hold till the historic election, to be held in November, when voters will choose between the king and a republic.
The new constitution has no function for the king, stripping him of his earlier position as constitutional head of government, and transferring the role to the prime minister.
With the constitution mentioning no role for the king, the budget too has no provisions for the royal family.
The sum that will be allotted for the royals is for the maintenance of the royal palace, to pay power and water bills and other administrative expenses, like staff salaries, finance ministry spokesman Ran Bahadur Shrestha told IANS.
The budget will come as an undesirable birthday gift for the king who celebrates his birthday a week earlier.
As the king turns 61 on July 7, the queen, Komal, is hosting a lavish birthday bash on July 6 to celebrate the "diamond" birthday with a guest list that includes about 900 VVIPs and VIPs.