Pokhara, January 31:

Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nembang today said the members of different committees formed to draft the new constitution will soon go to the villages

to collect suggestions from the people.

Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebration of Shivashakti Higher Secondary School in Phulbari, Nembang said the constitution-drafting process would begin soon after the members of the committees return with suggestions from the people. Saying that the constitution should be readied by May 2010, the CA chairman said there was a need of cooperation from the political parties and participation from the people to draft the constitution on time.

Stating that the constitution should institutionalise the federal democratic republic, he said the statute should address the concerns of ethnic and lingual groups, women and under-privileged communities.

“The more the suggestions we can incorporate, the better the constitution we will have,” he said. He said the committees would reach out to people once the concept paper on the constitution was ready.

Nembang called on all to contribute to the vital task of writing the constitution, adding that the state would fail in case the constitution was not drafted on time. He said human rights activists, civil society members, journalists and intellectuals need to pressurise the political parties for the timely drafting of the statute.