Kathmandu, February 16

The task force formed by the government to study the report prepared by the Local Bodies Restructuring Commission has suggested increasing the number of local bodies in Province 2, Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Hitraj Pandey, who headed the task force, told THT.

In the task force report, which was submitted to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal this evening, the panel said it would be better to increase the number of local bodies in Province 2 to address grievances of the agitating Madhesi forces.

The task force also suggested that the government should implement the suggestions made by the district technical assistance committees headed by local development officers in case their suggestions were changed by the LBRC. LBRC officials, however, said the government had no power to change the report prepared by the commission and if the government wanted to change it, it would have to send the report and the task force’s suggestions to the LBRC.

LBRC chief Balananda Paudel said the commission did not have the time to rework the number and boundaries of the local bodies.

As per the constitution, the commission has to submit a report on special, protected and autonomous regions, structure of the public administration in the federal model and economic feasibility of federal units by March 13. Paudel said the government had to amend the constitution to increase the LBRC tenure, which would make local polls uncertain.

Paudel said the commission was busy making suggestions on special, protected and autonomous regions.

Earlier, the government had formed a three-member task force after several groups and agitating forces expressed dissatisfaction with the contents of the report. They had also threatened to boycott elections if the report was not revised. The government too had refused to endorse the report, saying that more consultations were needed.

The task force had consulted all disgruntling groups and parties, lawmakers from the eight districts of Province 2 and other stakeholders and had sought their suggestions on the LBRC report.

The panel had also selected coordinators in all eight districts of the province and had sought their suggestions in the writing. Most of the coordinators demanded that the number of local bodies in Province 2 should be increased to adjust contiguous ethnic clusters and to hold local polls. The LBRC had to prepare its report without any feedback from the agitating Madhesi parties, as they had boycotted LBRC’s work in all the eight districts of Province 2.

The PM’s  aide Manahari Timalsina said the task force had suggested maintaining contiguous  ethnic clusters and service centres as much as possible to address the  demands of the agitating forces, including Madhesis.