Kohalpur not willing to merge with Neplagunj sub-metropolis

Nepalgunj, December 29

Of late, lots of discussions are going on about merging Kohalpur Municipality with Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City to form a metropolitan city. But Kohalpur Municipality is rather reluctant to go for the merger.

Province 5 government is willing to merge Kohalpur Municipality with Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City and make it the metropolitan city in Banke.

On the contrary, Kohalpur Municipality is mulling over merging Baijanath and Raptisonari rural municipalities with Kohalpur and making it a sub-metropolitan city.

Nepalgunj sub-metropolis has initiated a discussion over the necessary physical infrastructure, geography, population and others requirements for a metropolitan city.

The municipal assembly of Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City has already approved a proposal to make it a metropolitan city and has also allocated budget for feasibility study.

Kohalpur Mayor Lut Bahadur Rawat, however, expressed ignorance about merging with Neplagunj sub-metropolis. “Sometime ago, Mayor Dhawal Shumsher Rana talked about merging Kohalpur with Neplagunj, but I had told him about our plan to make Kohalpur sub-metropolis by merging neighbouring rural municipalities,” Mayor Rawat said. He said that they wanted to merge Baijanath, Raptisonari with Kohalpur and make it a sub-metropolis.

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Kohalpur Municipal Committee Chair Basanti Adhikari claimed that there had been informal discussions to make Kohalpur a sub-metropolis. She, nevertheless, said that the party’s formal view was yet to come.

Baijanath Rural Municipality Chair Man Bahadur Ruchal Thakuri said that no formal discussion had taken place to merge Baijanath and Raptisonari with Kohalpur and make it a sub-metropolis.”We have not reached any formal decision to merge the local level with Kohalpur,” Thakuri clarified.