“I emphasized the need for developing a Buddha circuit passing through various parts of India where Gautam Buddha´s had travelled and Lumbini circuit in Nepal by including the places where Buddha was born, brought up and spent most of his time,” senior CPN-UML leader Nepal told media persons at the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) on Sunday. [break]
He arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday after a five-day India visit.
He argued that such a project would be instrumental in attracting thousands of international tourists.
Buddha was born at Kapilvastu in Lumbini and attained enlightenment at Bodhgaya in India. Some places in Lumbini such as his birthplace at Kapilvastu and maternal home in Nawalparasi, among some other places, have been proposed under the Lumbini circuit while Bodhgaya and some other places in India have been proposed under a broader Buddha circuit.
During the talks with Indian PM Singh, Nepal also sought India´s assistance in constructing the Dolalghat-Dhankuta section of the under-construction mid-hills highway.
“He (Singh) enquired whether Nepal side has forwarded such a proposal. But it was found that the proposal hasn´t been floated so far,” he said. He said he had pressed Baburam Bhattarai, when he was prime minster, to forward this proposal and urged UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba to float the idea to India. Dahal and Deuba had recently visited the southern neighbor. “But I found neither of them had raised the issue,” he said.
Nepal argued that he pushed the idea as it would stop migration of the people from hills and mountains to the plains and promote tourism and employment opportunities.
Nepal also urged the Indian side to expedite work on various India-funded projects such as the Mujaffarpur-Dhalkebar cross-border transmission line and the postal road.
Nepal informed the top Indian leaders about the progress made toward holding fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) polls and writing the new constitution.
“I told them that the major political parties in Nepal are committed to holding CA polls in November and preparing a draft of new constitution within six months after the polls,” he said. “I also informed them that we are holding talks to bring the dissident groups on board the election process.”
According to him, the Indian side “wanted speedy end to the transitional phase in Nepal.”
Nepal during his five-day visit to the southern neighbor met Indian PM Singh, Chairperson of United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi, senior ministers and other top Indian leaders.
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