KATHMANDU, August 5

The question of boundaries of federal units took a new turn on Wednesday at the special committee of the Constitutional-Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee as Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar proposed to include Saptari to Jhapa in the eastern hill state.

Although the parties are yet to agree on the boundaries of the provinces, they focused their discussion on six-state model during the marathon meeting held in Singha Durbar from morning to late evening.

Gachhadar said if Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari had to be included in the eastern hill province, then Saptari should also be included in the same province.

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Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are pleading for including Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari in eastern hill Pradesh while Unified CPN-Maoist is pleading to include Jhapa in a hill province and Morang and Sunsari in Tarai.

Parties failed to reach an agreement on Kailali and Kanchanpur as NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML leader Bhim Rawal took a firm stance to include these two districts in the western hill province, sources said. UCPN-M and MJF-D, however, are pleading to include Kanchanpur in western hill district and split Kailali into hill and Tarai states.

UCPN-M leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said, “The parties are yet to agree on issues of boundaries, secularism, proportional inclusion and citizenship. We are working seriously with a plan to forge consensus on all issues by tomorrow.”

According to NC leader Ramesh Lekhak, Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari are likely to be included in eastern hilly province. However, the parties are yet to agree on whether to include Saptari as well in the hilly province. Parties have almost agreed not to mention secularism, one of the most disputed issues, in the preliminary of the constitution. UCPN-M leader, Shrestha, however, said the UCPN-M wanted to mention the term but with clarification on it.

Leaders said that they were close to consensus on all constitutional issues than yesterday and they would forge consensus tomorrow. CPDCC Chair Baburam Bhattarai said, “Leaders discussed all issues thoroughly. But they are yet to iron out their differences on 8-10 issues. I want to assure you all that we will reach an agreement tomorrow and the CPDCC will submit its report by tomorrow evening or Friday morning.”

UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli said the number of provinces will not exceed six and he was confident that the consensus will be forged tomorrow.

UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal when asked what was the progress on the boundaries of the federal units, he said, “You will come to know tomorrow.”