Dr Mahat was speaking at the meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) that is currently holding discussions on the reports prepared by the SRC. [break]
“The SRC complicated the matter further by even creating disputes on the issues that were already settled by the CA Committee on natural resources, financial rights and revenue,” he said.
The lawmaker from the NC criticized the delineation of provinces in the SRC report. “There is a province that accommodates Solukhumbhu, Udayapur, Makwanpur, and Dhading. What type of geographical continuity is this?” he asked.
He says he supports those who are against splitting Chitwan district while delineating the federal provinces, but said, “How about other districts and places?”
He advocated the rights of the local people to opt for the federal province they want to be part of.
Similarly, lawmaker from the UCPN (Maoist) Amik Serchan stated that the report prepared by the CA Committee on state restructuring was better than the one prepared by the SRC. He also spoke against splitting Chitwan. It may be recalled that Chitwan is the home district of the Maoist lawmaker.
Similarly, lawmaker UML Bhim Rawal spoke against the ethnicity-based federalism with preferential rights and the right to self-determination, which he said would invite ethnic conflict. He also opined that it would be better to divide the country into seven federal provinces.
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