Few turn up to chip in with suggestions in capital

Kathmandu, March 14:

Very few people turned out at a programme organised by a CA team to collect public opinion on future constitution in Kathmandu today.

Though people’s presence is the primary thing for opinion collection campaign, Kathmanduites seem least bothered about giving their opinion on the new constitution if there is anything to go by the very thin presence of the people in a programme at Bagbazaar.

There were hardly 50 people, only two of them women, at a meeting organised by the CA team for Ward No 31 of KMC at Bagbazaar, the heart of the capital city. “There was no publicity programme before organising this programme. So, how can people know that the CA members are coming to our doors?” wondered Rajesh Tandukar, 42, who attended the meeting. He said he was also informed about the meeting by one of his neighbours.

“The presence of people in opinion collection meetings in the city area is low. The number of people turning out at a meeting ranges from 100 to 200 in the core city areas. But, outside the core city or ring road area, the number is higher,” said Hitman Shakya, a CA member assigned to collect the opinions from Kathmandu.

He admitted that the publicity of their meetings was very poor. It is the duty of the government employees included in the team, but they are only distributing some pamphlets of the programme schedule, he added.

Raj Adhikari, 23, a student, said, “I attended this meeting after I saw the gathering on my way home. Such programme should have been organised only after publicity.” Yard of the Shrestha Tailoring Building at Bagbazaar was the meeting point where the team of CA members Pradip Giri and Narahari Acharya was present.

People who attended the programme complained that the questionnaire was tough for a layman to comprehend. “I can only understand half of the questions in the set,” said Rajesh Tandukar.

Those who attended the programme provided their separate written suggestions, besides filling the questionnaire supplied by the CA team.

Their suggestions seemed to be influenced by their burning local problems. Umdi Sherpa, a participant, said the constitution must be approved by the people once it is drafted.