BIRATNAGAR : A long-standing budget dispute within the ruling coalition in Koshi Province has been resolved after a six-member task force reached a written agreement to restructure allocations and rebalance spending across constituencies.

Under the agreement, budget provisions concentrated on ministers’ individual constituencies in the “Red Book” will be reduced and redistributed proportionally to other areas. The task force estimates that around Rs 1 billion will be freed and reallocated to other constituencies and incomplete multi-year projects.

According to UML MP Ekaraj Karki, ministers have agreed to voluntarily surrender portions of their constituency-based allocations. Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Pradeep Kumar Sunuwar will return 40%, while Minister for Water Supply Tilchan Pathak will surrender 30%. Other ministers have agreed to give up 10% of their respective allocations.

The agreement follows internal discussions between coalition partners CPN (UML) and Nepali Congress, after Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki acknowledged shortcomings in the initial budget distribution.

To implement the deal, the government will form a task force or commission to finalize adjustments. Once the Provincial Line Ministry Budget Information System (PLMBIS) portal reopens, revised projects will be entered to give the changes legal validity, Karki said.

The agreement was reached in a meeting attended by UML Chief Whip Ramesh Basnet, Hom Bahadur Thapa, and Ram Bahadur Magar, along with Nepali Congress Deputy Leader Himal Karki, Binod Bantawa, and Whip Gopal Tamang.

With the deal in place, the provincial assembly session—stalled for the past 10 days—is expected to resume, allowing the budget process to move forward.

However, lawmakers have warned that passage of the budget will depend on full implementation of the agreement, while the compromise has temporarily eased uncertainty over fiscal management in the province.