Chitwan, March 20:

Constituent Assembly members have reached different VDCs of Nawalparasi district to collect public opinion on the form and content of the future constitution.

During an interaction of the opinion collection team with the locals of Gaidakot, the locals urged the CA members to ensure a provision for life imprisonment for corrupt, rapists and land mafia in the future constitution. They also suggested the CA members to guarantee rights of women, Dalits, indigenous and marginalised people.

Locals who attended the interaction complained that very few people could turn up for the programme as the CA team visited the village without prior information. They also said most of them could not even see the questionnaires the CA team was supposed to supply to them for filling up, forget about actually filling up the questionnaires.

A few of the participants said the questions in the questionnaire were incomprehensive. According to a survey of local mediapersons, only 19 per cent people could understand the questions. Likewise, a section of the locals said they were against federal system as it could divide the country.

The locals also want that the future constitution was drafted in such a way that it could address different views of people.

CA member Binod Kumar Chaudhari said, “During the opinion collection period, I found that there should be a through study and analysis on federal system before actually going for it.”

He said the sentiments of the people of Nawalparasi were hurt due to the border encroachment in Susta. He said, “Nepali people are still facing discrimination based on caste, religion, region and gender.”

He promised that he would try his best to address the concerns of Nawalparasi folks by making effort to draft a pro-people constitution.