As the ruling and the main opposition parties failed to sort out their differences on some of the provisions in the bill, the bill is in limbo leaving thousands of quake victims in frustration.
An attempt to forward the bill to the full House through voting in the bills committee of the parliament has been canceled after leaders argued that there is no point in passing the bill through votes in the committee as that is certain to be deadlocked again in the full House, where agitating parties have been obstructing the House procedures.
A meeting of the bills committee on Tuesday was adjourned until further notice while asking top leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to decide the fate of the bill.
CPN-UML lawmaker Rewati Raman Bhandari said that the government is holding discussion with the NC about the bill along with other disputed issues with a view to settle the issues in a package.
The main opposition NC has been insisting on giving continuity to appointment of Dr Govinda Pokhrel as chief executive officer of the proposed authority. But ruling CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) have strongly opposed the proposal for his continuity.
The ruling parties want to appoint a candidate proposed by the main opposition party as the vice-chairs in two of the three tiers of the body. The CEO will head the executive committee and the prime minister will lead the directive committee and advisory council along with a vice-chair from main opposition in each tier.
"How could the government implement its reconstruction plan through the NRA if it is not allowed to appoint its CEO as per its convenience," said Ram Narayan Bidari of the UCPN (Maoist).
Though the NRA was formed through an ordinance, establishment of such an authority was also a condition to convince donor agencies to pour budget for the reconstruction project. However, the NRA even without getting full shape was scrapped as the previous government failed to endorse the ordinance and replace it with regular bill within 60 days of commencement of the parliament session to legalize the NRA established through an ordinance.
The government's failure to endorse the NRA bill invited another debate between major political parties. After the promulgation of the new constitution on September 20, a new coalition was formed under the UML leadership while the NC was pushed to the opposition bench. The new ruling coalition of UML-UCPN (Maoist) wanted to appoint a CEO of their choice and not to give continuity to Dr Pokhrel, who is close to the NC.
"There is no reason to discontinue previous appointment as the previous CEO was appointed by the NC-UML joint government in consensus," said NC lawmaker Anjana Tamlee.
Many believe that the major parties have been wrangling over the appointment of key officials at the NRA as the authority is going to mobilize billions of rupees for reconstruction and rehabilitation programs.
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