Kavre, September 13

As differences among political parties persist, stakeholders in Kavre have failed to settle on the model for restructuring local bodies.

The parties failed to reach compromise even though the technical committee formed under the coordination of the local development officer to facilitate the process had frequently prodded them to reach consensus at the earliest.

“As it is already late to send the recommendation to the centre, I’ve been reminding the parties to do it pronto,” said LDO Tekraj Niraula, who said political parties have taken an exception to the Restructuring Commission’s proposal of 11 local bodies in the district.

While the parties, including the major ones, have sought an increase in the number of local bodies in their proposal, the commission has asked the parties to furnish a rationale behind the need to increase the number of local bodies.

On his part, CPN-UML district chairperson Tok Bahadur Lama cited geographical factor as the reason for having more local bodies.

“As the district has a vast territory with human settlements scattered all over, the number of local bodies proposed is not enough, if we are to take into account the convenience of locals,” he said.

It is said that the question of whether to form a sub-metropolis is also a major bone of contention.

While the Nepali Congress has thrown its full weight against forming a sub-metropolis, UML and CPN-Maoist Centre have been lobbying for 12 to 15 local bodies, including a sub-metropolis.

And as the dispute persists, the parties seem to be overshooting the deadline given by the commission to submit the recommendation for local bodies.

Meanwhile, so far, the commission has received recommendation of local bodies from 31 districts.