Federal commission, CA’s special committee to look into disputes
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Leaders vow to adjust provincial boundaries
KATHMANDU, Aug 10: As the latest decision to federate the country into six provinces and declaration of provincial boundaries draws reactions from various parts of the country, top leaders on Sunday vowed to make corrections to the boundaries announced on Saturday.
Stating that the boundaries announced now weren't the final one, leaders said they would make adjustments and revise their decisions based on feedback from local representatives.
The committee meeting endorsed the proposal prepared by the special committee tasked with finalizing the number of provinces and their boundaries. As mandated by the CPDCC, the special committee decided to federate the country into six provinces, announced their boundaries and submitted this report to the full committee last night.
The CPDCC had last week formed the special committee comprising prime minister, chiefs and some other key leaders of Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist) and Madhesi People's Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D).
Bhattarai said the special committee will continuously work to settle the remaining disputes and recommend suggestions to the CA's Constitution Drafting Committee.
Lawmakers and other local representatives from Baglung and Rukum among some other districts strongly opposed the proposed demarcation as these districts were divided for inclusion in different provinces.
NC Vice-chairman Ram Chandra Paudel said they have decided to make some adjustments to the boundaries as a large number of people, mainly from Baglung and Rukum, voiced their concerns against division of their districts. Also, lawmakers from various major political parties have demanded delineation of Karnali as a separate province.
"The decision regarding division of Baglung district will be corrected because a majority of the people there objected to the decision," said Paudel.
Also, some leaders including former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam assured lawmakers and representatives from Baglung to keep the district intact.
Paudel, however, claimed that the locals in Nawalparasi weren't dissatisfied with the decision to divide the district. "People in Nawalparasi have no grievances because the parts we have now separated were included into Nawalparasi only some years back," he argued.
He said demarcation and other issues of federalism will be taken up by political leadership and the experts' commission as well.
"We will look into the issues through political perspective while the commission will analyze them through expert perspectives," he said.
Meanwhile, CPDCC Chairman Bhattarai tabled the report to the CA full House meeting later in the evening amid protest by various dissident political parties.
Lawmakers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) and some Madhes-based parties chanted slogans while Bhattarai presented his report at the meeting.
RPP-N lawmakers have demanded removal of the country's secular status from the constitution while members from other parties have opposed the proposed federal model and various other provisions.
While tabling the report, Bhattarai claimed that the new constitution has ensured the rights of the people from downtrodden and deprived communities. "We are at the point of securing results of seven decades of struggle and the country is being transformed from a monolithic unitary monarchical state into a democratic federal republic," he said. "This is a big achievement for all those who were deprived of state power for ages."
He argued that a part of the establishment section of the country has now become restless as the downtrodden people are also going to enjoy equal status based on the new constitution.
"The political deal signed last midnight has laid a strong ground for a new constitution. Therefore, some elements have now become restless," he said.
After holding deliberations for a few days in the CA's full House, the report will be forwarded to the drafting committee for making changes in the draft constitution. After that the final draft will be tabled in the full House for final endorsement through two-thirds majority of the House
