Kathmandu, January 22

The Local Bodies Restructuring Commission said it is preparing basic criteria for the special, protected, semi-autonomous and autonomous regions.

LBRC member Neeraj Shah said that the LBRC would start determining the number of special, protected, semi-autonomous and autonomous regions, once the basic criteria were determined.

The LBRC has been discussing with experts, researchers and the organisations, which have been advocating for such regions to provide greater autonomy to the people to protect culture, identity and overall development of the regions.

According to Shah, several district technical assistance committees of the LBRC have suggested possible special, protected, semi-autonomous and autonomous regions in the districts where they have worked. “Once we formulate the basic criteria, we will compare it with the recommended special, protected and autonomous areas,” said another LBRC member Sunil Ranjan Singh.

He said the commission had discussed with academicians such as Uddhav Sapkota and Krishna Sapkota and it has been reviewing literature written on the subject matter. He said that the LBRC had planned to discuss the issue with Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, before taking any decision on the issues.

According to Singh, the commission members have been studying literatures written on international practices and rights given to special, protected, semi-autonomous and autonomous regions to get a clear picture.

As per the constitutional provision, special, protected, semi-autonomous and autonomous regions will have rights to decide on social, cultural and economic matters.

The government will provide all kinds of assistance to strengthen those bodies.

Meanwhile, NEFIN, an umbrella organisation of indigenous people has demanded creation of at least 23 autonomous and 12 special protected regions across the country.

NEFIN, which consists of 54 indigenous member organisations distributed across the Tarai, hills and mountain regions, said that it had also submitted a memorandum to the LBRC on the issue.

“We have studied the cultural, historical, social as well as financial aspects of possible special and autonomous regions and recommended that the government to declare them as such,” said NEFIN Chairman Jagat Bahadur Baram.

He said that his organisation had asked the LBRC to send its officials to the districts before taking any decision regarding special, protected and autonomous regions.

The LBRC has to submit its report on protected and autonomous regions to the government by March 13. The commission is mandated to determine the number, boundaries and economic potential of village councils, municipalities and special, protected and autonomous regions within one year of its formation, as stated in Article 56 (5) of the constitution.