Skip to main content

Vested interest in splitting Province Number 5


The government has made preparations for the constitution amendment to address the demands of the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF). The demarcation of the provinces is the thorniest issue among the four demands being raised by the UDMF.

Madhesi parties had staged strikes and bands for almost six months after the constitution were promulgated diving Nepal into seven provinces. The southern neighbor also imposed blockade on Nepal for six months on the pretext of Madhes agitation.

The Madhesi Morcha had backed down from its One Madhes One Province demand following the Tharu protest and started raising its voice for two provinces in the Tarai belt. Since then, the Madhesi Morcha has been demanding that Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari be included in Province Number 2. Quite recently, the government has floated a proposal to split Province Number 5, drawing flacks from all quarters.

“The amendment in the constitution had been made in the past, too, but this could not be implemented after India did not accept it. This time the preparations are underway to bring an amendment proposal to suit the interest of the agitating parties and the southern neighbor,” said a political leader requesting anonymity.

The main opposition party CPN-UML has been offended after the government forwarded the proposal to take away five districts from Province Number 5.  To please the Madhesi Front and India Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is preparing to split hilly districts from province Number 5, said sources.

Province Number 5 will have areas stretching from Nawalpur of Nawalparasi district to the western part of Bardiya. The fragmented districts would be merged in Province Number 4 and 6.  
If this proposal gets endorsed, the remaining districts would be detached from hilly region.
Sources claimed that preparations are underway to amend constitution as per the demand of India.

UDMF has put forth their demand that Province Number 2 should stretch from Jhapa in the east to Chitwan in the west. Similarly, their demands include a Tharu provinces stretching from Nawalparasi in the east to Kanchanpur in the west.

As per the current demarcation of the provinces, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari are kept in Province Number 1 and Kailali and Kanchanpur in Province Number 7.

UDMF is still adamant that Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Udayapur, Sindhuli, Makwanpur along with inner Madhes including some parts of Chitwan should be made a single province.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress (NC) leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula are not positive in merging Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari in Madhes province in any condition.

Especially, Chairman of Federal Socialist Forum Nepal Upendra Yadav is for mixing three eastern districts in Madhes province.

Morang and Sunsari are the electoral regions for Yadav.

A UDMF leader said that other leaders except Yadav don’t have interest in Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari.

Oli and Sitaula are against the merging the three districts Province Number 2 which they believe will lead their political future in disarray.

Other demands of UDMF are to make a Tharu Province including the districts from Nawalparasi to Kanchanpur.

NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Vice-chairman Bhim Rawal, Ramesh Lekhak among others are against including Kailali and Kanchanpur in the Tharu Province as it is their electoral region.

According to sources, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is trying his best to appease UDMF and make India happy by separating the hilly districts with the Tarai districts of Province Number 5 after Oli disagreed to the proposal on Province Number 1 and Deuba was stubborn on not letting to include Kailali and Kanchanpur in the Tharu Province.

According to Dahal’s offer, Nawalpur of Nawalparasi to eastern Bardiya will be included in Province Number 5 and the hilly districts in the province will be merged in Province Number 4 and 6.

Published in: MyRepublica
29/11/2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Government raises grant for Nepal by 17 percent

India Government raises grant for Nepal by 17 percent The Indian government has pledged to extend 17 percent more in financial aid to Nepal in the next fiscal year, indicating greater enthusiasm of the southern neighbour to support the landlocked country’s development endeavours. The Indian government has allocated a grant of IRs3.75 billion (Rs6 billion) for Nepal in 2017-18, as against IRs3.20 in 2016-17. The allocation was made through the Union Budget 2017-18 launched by Indian Finance Minister Arjun Jaitely on Wednesday.  In addition to the amount, India has also pledged to extend a grant of IRs113.30 million to Nepal Police Academy in 2017-18, the Indian budget document says. The grant pledged for Nepal in 2017-18 is second highest among South Asian countries, with Bhutan leading the pack. The Indian government has expressed commitment to extend IRs37.14 billion in grant to Bhutan in 2017-18. The amount, however, is 4 percent lower than in 2016-17. In total, Ind...
Post a Comment
Read more

Women, Dalit, marginalized representation to increase

Parliament is set to endorse the Local Level Election Bill that sets out criteria to significantly increase the representation of women, Dalits and marginalized groups in local bodies from the upcoming local elections. The new bill, that is likely to be endorsed on Thursday as none of the major political parties have opposed it, will replace the existing Local Body Election Act 2048 BS. The new bill makes it mandatory to field the candidacy of at least one woman either for the post of chief or deputy chief at village councils, municipalities and district coordination committees. “Political parties must maintain at least 50 percent women’s representation for the posts of either chief or deputy chief while fielding candidates for village councils, municipalities and district coordination committees,” reads Clause 17 (4) of the bill endorsed by parliament’s State Affairs Committee. Women and Dalits respectively constitute over 51 percent and about 13 percent of the total populatio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Landless quake victims: Why are we deprived of state aid?

Gothelal BK of Nalang village of Dhading district feels helpless as he watches his villagers building houses at war footing. Seeing them, this homeless man does not know how to make one for his family. The government did not provide him the earthquake assistance grant distributed to quake victims because he did not have land registered in his name. “All the villagers will soon move into their new houses. But my family is doomed to live in tents. The government did not provide us the grant that it distributed to villagers. Neither did it provide us land,” BK shared with a feeling of being helpless against what he thinks as ‘state’s injustice’ to people like him.  BK’s family has been living in a hut covered with plastic sheets after the earthquake rendered them homeless in April 2015. Just like other quake victims, he also waited for nearly two years to start building new home. But his hopes were dashed. Every day when he sees his villagers’ houses coming into shape, he feels...
Post a Comment
Read more