After several rounds of meetings at Singha Durbar on Friday, the leaders said they couldn't take a final decision as leaders and representatives from various parts of the country demanded adjustments to the provincial boundaries earlier proposed by the top leaders. The leaders had drawn a tentative map of the six-province model on Wednesday.
"We have still not succeeded in taking a final decision as drawing provincial boundaries is a very challenging and sensitive matter and we thought to take a decision only after listening to all sides even if this requires more time," Chairman of CA's Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (CPDCC) Baburam Bhattarai told reporters while emerging from interparty negotiations on Friday evening.
Though chiefs and key leaders of major political forces held several rounds of joint and separate meetings, the meeting of CPDCC, which has representation of all political parties, lasted only for a few minutes.
Bhattarai informed members of the committee that he had to defer the meeting for Saturday as the leaders have still not succeeded in settling disputes on proposed provincial boundaries.
"We have failed repeatedly in solving the issues in the given time but we still have a chance. So we are making further efforts and I request all members to be patient," Bhattarai told members at the meeting.
According to participants involved in the negotiations, the leaders have failed to focus on specific proposals as various groups have been pressing them not to divide some districts.
Earlier, the leaders had focused on solving disputes mainly over three districts -- Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari -- in the east and two districts -- Kailali and Kanchanpur-- in the far-west.
But later, one group after another launched campaigns to press the leadership for keeping their regions intact.
Asked if the new proposals were further complicating the demarcation issue, Bhattarai said it was true to some extent. "We had earlier discussed two specific sets of proposals -- one proposed by NC and UML and the other proposed by UCPN (Maoist) and some other parties. But of late, talks are being held on some other perspectives as well," said Bhattarai.
Also UML Vice-chairperson Bidya Bhandari said the talks couldn't focus on tentative six-province map that they had drafted on Wednesday as various groups pressed them for adjustments.
"Some leaders proposed including Saptari in the eastern province while others are for including Sindhuli in the southern province," she said. "So is the case on other proposed provinces as well. Some want addition of a district in a particular province while some others want separation of an area from the proposed map."
Lawmakers from Lumbini have been lobbying for keeping their zone intact in the provincial map. Lawmakers from Lumbini Zone have opposed separation of Palpa, Gulmi and Arghakhanchi from the zone.
Other lawmakers have pressed top leadership to keep Rapti Zone intact in the provincial map.
Similarly, some UCPN (Maoist) lawmakers want adjustments to some parts of Rukum and Rolpa in the proposed provincial map.
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