Kathmandu, October 14

Local Bodies Restructuring Commission today wrote a letter to Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development for the third time seeking original data on ilakas (areas).

LBRC member Sunil Ranjan Singh said the constitutional body wrote a third letter to the ministry as the ministry did not respond to two of its previous letters.

Singh said the revised terms of reference for the LBRC sent recently by the government had stated that ilakas should be also considered as one of main criteria while restructuring the local bodies.

Singh said the LBRC would prepare its guidelines in three to four days for which it needed original data on ilakas, particularly their number, historical background, economic resources and population.

“I have personally written a note of dissent on the government’s revision of LBRC’s terms of reference,” he said.

Singh, however, said the LBRC would start its work from scratch and therefore it did not want to fix a deadline for the completion of its work. He added that if the political parties and the government cooperated with the LBRC, it would be easy for the constitutional body to complete the task assigned to it soon.

Singh said last time the LBRC’s works were unexpectedly halted after the government started talking of revising its terms of reference when the constitutional body had already completed 66 per cent of its work.

Political parties want the LBRC to give its report on the restructuring of local bodies so that there could be enough time for the preparation of local polls which the government wants to hold before mid-April.

Agitating Madhesi parties, however, oppose the works of LBRC saying the restructuring of local bodies should be done only after revising the provincial boundaries.