Valley
Cabinet likely to pick provincial headquarters, guvs on Thursday
Even as the vote count of the House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections nears its completion, the government has yet to fix provincial headquarters and appoint governors who will serve as the ceremonial head of the respective provinces.Even as the vote count of the House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections nears its completion, the government has yet to fix provincial headquarters and appoint governors who will serve as the ceremonial head of the respective provinces.
Though the Prime Minister’s Office has identified probable venues for the provincial headquarters and set criteria for the appointment of governors, the decision has yet to be approved by the Cabinet.
As the first meeting of provincial assemblies needs to be called within a month of the announcement of poll results, fixing the headquarters is necessary for the preparations to form assembly halls, administration centres, offices to the parties and the residence of the head of state, among others.
Govind Pariyar, press advisor to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, said that the PM was in consultations with concerns authorities to announce the temporary headquarters and ceremonial head of the provinces latest by December 18.
“The Cabinet will take the decision either on Thursday or December 18 [Monday],” Pariyar told the Post, adding that PM Deuba is consulting with probable candidates for the post of governor.
Pariyar said that there was no problem in fixing the temporary headquarters, suggesting that the government would most likely choose the places where the High Courts are located in each province. The High Courts are located in Dhankuta in Province 1, Janakpur in Province 2, Patan in Province 3; Pokhara in Province 4, Dang in Province 5, Surkhet in Province 6 and Dipayal in Province 7.
The Constitution of Nepal authorises the government to announce the temporary headquarters, while a two-thirds majority of the respective provincial assembly will fix the permanent capital.
The PMO together with the Ministry of Urban Development carried out a study on infrastructure for the administrative and parliament buildings in places where the government is likely to fix temporary provincial headquarters.
The study was conducted in the places as recommended by a committee led by the then minister for general administration Tek Bahadur Basnet in September. The committee had recommended Janakpur as the headquarters of Province 2, Pokhara in Province 4 and Surkhet in Province 6. It recommended Biratnagar, Itahari or Dhankuta as the probable capital for Province 1; Banepa, Dhulikhel, Hetauda or Kathmandu for Province 3; Dang or Butwal for Province 5 and Dipayal or Dhangadi for Province 7.