Kathmandu, February 2

The Dialogue Committee formed under Chairperson of Province 2 Niti Ayog Haribansha Jha will submit its report on the name and headquarters of the province tomorrow.

Jha told THT over phone that the committee was preparing to submit the report to the provincial government tomorrow.

Province 2 government had formed the committee to make recommendation on the two vexing issues on the basis of people’s feedback following which the committee held interaction with the people of the province in all eight districts — Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa and Rautahat.

Jha said his committee would make recommendation as per the spirit of the people of the province, but did not clearly say what name the committee recommended and which   city it would recommend as provincial headquarters.

A knowledgeable Province 2 government source told THT that the committee would recommend Province 2 as Madhes Pradesh and Janakpurdham as the province’s headquarters.

Manish Kumar Suman, Rastriya Janata Party Nepal lawmaker of province-2 said since the constitution stipulated that the issues of name and headquarters should be decided by provincial assemblies by two-thirds majority of the PAs, Province 2 government should have also discussed the issues in the PA rather than seeking feedback from the public.

The coalition government of the RJP-N and the Federal Nepal Socialist Forum Nepal, which commands 54 members (with FSFN having 29 and RJPN having 25 members), would need the support of either the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) or the Nepali Congress to get their proposal on name of the province and headquarters ratified. The NCP has 19 members and the RJPN 25.

Province 2 will also have to deal with the issue of other official languages of the province that it may choose after the official Nepali language. “The government may need further discussion on the language issues. Large number of people says the province should choose Hindi, Maithili and Bhojpuri as other official languages of the province,” he added. Province 2, Province 1, Province 3 and Province 5 have not settled the issues of name and headquarters yet.