Province 3 named Bagmati, Hetauda is the capital

Published On: January 13, 2020 08:58 AM NPT By: Ashok Sujan Shrestha

MAKAWANPUR, Jan 13: Almost two years after the provincial government was formed in Province 3, it has been named as ‘Bagmati’ and Hetauda has been fixed as its capital.

On Sunday, the provincial assembly endorsed a proposal tabled by Chief Minister Dormani Poudel to designate Hetauda as the permanent capital by over two-thirds majority. Likewise, the assembly also unanimously decided to name the province as Bagmati, according to Sanu Kumar Shrestha, speaker of the provincial assembly.

Of the 110 members in the provincial assembly, 105 voted for picking Hetauda as the capital. A total of 108 members were present in the assembly on Sunday.

After the proposal to fix Hetauda of Makawanpur as the capital received more than two-thirds votes, Shrestha announced that Hetauda had been fixed as the capital of Province 3.

During the assembly, Sajha Bibeksheel Party leader, Ramesh Poudel had also presented a proposal, seeking Dhulikhel of Kavre to be fixed as the permanent capital, but it was rejected by an overwhelming majority, as 101 members out of 104 present in the meeting, voted against it.

Only three lawmakers of the erstwhile Bibeksheel Sajha Party Ramesh Paudel, Shova Shakya and Biraj Bhakta Shrestha were in favor of picking Dhulikhel as the capital.

According to Shrestha, the proposal to choose Dhulikhel as the capital received only three votes.

The speaker of the provincial assembly Shrestha and independent lawmaker Prem Tamang didn’t participate in the vote.

Chief Minister Poudel had tabled the proposal to fix Hetauda as the capital of the province as per sub-clause (2) of Article (88) of the constitution.

The Provincial Assembly also unanimously decided to name Province 3 as Bagmati. All the Provincial Assembly members who participated in the voting process voted to name the province as Bagmati.

The proposal to name Province 3 was tabled by Indra Bahadur Baniya, Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader in the provincial assembly.

Meanwhile, after the name and capital of the province were fixed, a cabinet meeting was also held on Sunday itself.