Biratnagar, January 13

Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa has said the problems that surfaced in the country due to the agitation in the Tarai would be resolved soon as the ongoing talks with the agitating Madhesi leaders were moving towards fruition.

Speaking to mediapersons at Biratnagar Airport today, DPM Thapa confided that as talks and discussions with disgruntled Madhesi leaders were doing the rounds thickly lately, the disputes were being narrowed down, as a result the signs of resolution were seemingly visible.

Thapa, also Minister for Foreign Affairs, expressed confidence on the same citing the continuous efforts of the high-level political mechanism comprising top leaders from the Nepali Congress, the UCPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML for holding positive and decisive talks with dissenting Madhesi leaders.

Various Madhes-centric political parties have been agitating in several districts across the southern plains for over four months in protest of the new constitution. They say that the new national charter does not reflect their interests.

On the occasion, Thapa, on behalf of the government, urged the agitating Madhesi leaders to quit their indefinite strike, stating that it was not doing any good to the country and the countrymen.

Stating that the three-point concept brought by the government in an attempt to address their demands was even welcomed by India, DPM Thapa shared that the misunderstanding with the southern neighbour was almost cleared through diplomatic means.

He believed that the prime minister’s first foreign state-visit to India, likely to take place soon, would further consolidate Nepal’s relation with this South Asian giant.

Thapa further said that the supply of essential goods from India would be smooth in a few days as the supply of goods from the check points with India, except for Birgunj, was already smoothened.

A high-level mechanism to be formed will forge a common viewpoint on the delineation of federal provinces in three months, according to DPM Thapa, whereas the other demands of Madhesi leaders as determination of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportional inclusive representation in Parliament and public offices will be met through the endorsement of the Constitution Amendment Bill through the Parliament.

Thapa, who is also in-charge of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, clarified that local bodies’ election, long overdue in Nepal, would be held in the current structure and will be re-held upon the implementation of the federal set up.

He reaffirmed that the incumbent government was committed to deliver its promises to bring prosperity to the country through the development of energy and expansion of road connectivity across the nook and corners of the country.