8 districts in Province 2 hold out for demarcation changes
KATHMANDU, Nov 10: Almost all the districts, other than the eight districts under Province No. 2, have either submitted their reports proposing local units under the federal system, or are in the final stages of doing so.
As many as 50 districts have submitted their reports as of Wednesday to the commission formed to restructure the local units, and they have proposed 450 local units.The remaining districts, except the eight districts of Province No. 2, are in the process of finalizing their reports and are likely to submit these by the end of the week, said Devi Prasad Subedi, under-secretary at the commission.
The deadline for the district committees to submit their reports to the commission was last Saturday, but as many of the districts could not meet the deadline for various reasons, the commission became more flexible and asked them all to submit the reports as soon as possible.
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Officials of the commission have said that they will wait till mid-November for all the 75 districts to submit their reports.
Of the total 14 districts in Province No. 1, only Sankhuwasabha is yet to submit its report.
Likewise, in Province 3, Sindhuli, Kavre and Nuwakot are yet to submit their reports while in Province 4, Lamjung, Parbat, Syangja, Baglung, Mustang and Nawalparasi are yet to submit.
Likewise, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu and Gulmi of Province No. 5 and Salya, Mugu and Kalikot in Province 6 are also yet to submit their reports.
"As political leaders in districts like Parbat and Baglung in Province No. 4 are demanding more local units than the limit set by the commission, the district bodies there have not been able to finalize their reports. The other remaining districts in Province No. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are in the final stages of submitting the reports," he said, adding that districts like Parbat and Baglung have been asked to forge consensus on a certain number of local units to be created and submit their reports as soon as possible.
He said that the number of local units to be created under the federal system will not cross 731 even if the remaining 25 districts submit reports recommeding the highest number of local units within the minimum to maximum range given to each of the districts by the commission. The commission had asked its district bodies to finalize the number of local units at between 507 to 744.
However, due to non-cooperation from the Madhes-based parties, the district bodies of the commission in the eight districts of Province No. 2 were not able to hold decisive consultations on the number of local units, let alone prepare their reports, even four days after the deadline last Saturday.
Madhesi leaders in the eight districts have been arguing that they will participate in the local restructuring task only after the ongoing dispute over provincial demarcations is settled.
Since the Madhes-based political parties are not cooperating in the restructuring task, the commission is making preparations to meet Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and ask him to help solicit support from the Madhes-based parties in the task of delineating local units under the federal system.
