Miscellaneous
Province 3 capital city: Niraula panel presents report
The Special Parliamentary Committee Chairman, Dipak Niraula, on Monday presented the report of the study on probable candidate cities as Province 3 capital to the assembly, three months after it was first submitted to the Speaker.Nagendra Adhikari
The Special Parliamentary Committee Chairman, Dipak Niraula, on Monday presented the report of the study on probable candidate cities as Province 3 capital to the assembly, three months after it was first submitted to the Speaker.
The provincial business advisory committee meeting held on Saturday had decided to table the report in the assembly meeting held on Monday.
The parliamentary committee report recommends five probable districts - Kavre, Chitwan, Nuwakot, Bhaktapur and Makwanpur - as the capital of Province 3. Although, the list mentions the district names in Roman script, they are in fact in alphabetical order of Devanagari script.
The 13-member parliamentary committee had submitted its report to Speaker Sanu Kumar Shrestha three months ago. However, intra and inter party lawmakers’ protracted disagreements over candidate cities ensured the report was not tabled in Parliament.
The committee made several field visits to take suggestions of various people through a questionnaire and prepared the report. The panel has included area, population, number of the local units, geographical location with distance, situation of the physical infrastructure and socio-cultural aspect of the recommended districts.
The provincial government and the assembly have been criticised for not prioritising the plan to designate a capital. The long-standing issue of naming the provincial headquarters will now be decided as the report is in the assembly. Lawmakers of various political parties remain divided whether to shift the capital from Hetauda, the temporary provincial headquarters, or not.
As per the constitution of the country, the provincial assembly can name the province and designate its capital by two-thirds majority.
Hetauda backers protest
Hetauda residents on Monday protested in front of the provincial assembly building against the parliamentary process of designating the capital.
Some protestors said the parliamentary process of selecting the capital is against the existing legal provisions of the country as the issue is sub-judice at Hetauda bench of Patan High Court.
Advocate Dhruba Prasad Chaulaggain filed a writ in the court against the provincial government, provincial assembly, the parliamentary committee, parliamentary leader of main opposition party and the lawmakers.
4 PC chiefs elected
DHANGADHI: The Provincial Assembly of Sudurpashchim Province has elected chiefs of four different parliamentary committees.
Harka Bahadur Kunwar and Kunti Joshi were elected unopposed on Sunday as chiefs of Development and Natural Resource Committee and Social Development Committee respectively.
Nepalu Chaudhary was declared chief of Legislation and Provincial Affairs Committee whereas Kumari Nanda Bam was elected as the chairperson of Public Accounts Committee. Kunwar, Joshi and Chaudhary are members of Nepal Communist Party while Bam is the lawmaker of the Nepali Congress. The elected chiefs took oath of office and secrecy from Speaker Arjun Bahadur Thapa on Monday. (PR)