Hetauda, January 6

Province 3 Chief Minister Dormani Poudel has expressed confidence that the Provincial Assembly will be able to put through the issues of naming the province and fixing its headquarters through consensus.

Speaking at the first meeting of the winter session of the Provincial Assembly here today, the chief minister called on all political parties to be united to settle the twin issues related to fixing the permanent headquarters and adopting a name for the province.

“It has taken some time, it’s true, while trying to ease the process. Anyway we won’t shelve the issues any longer and are committed to settling these agenda even if it requires by putting them to vote,” he observed.

At the meeting, opposition Nepali Congress leader Indra Bahadur Baniya argued that adopting Hetauda as the permanent headquarters would be the right choice.

“Setting the headquarters in Hetauda, the city that served as the capital of the central development region earlier, is vital for the entire country, not only for the place itself and the people here,” he said, stressing the need to see the strategic location of the place that deserves the status.

On a different note, the Congress leader doubted a conspiracy to return the country to the previous unitary system, and said his party was committed to taking up cudgels against any such attempts. “Regarding the issues of naming the province and its provincial headquarters, we must do it through consensus,” he said.

Meanwhile, the procedure related to the name of the province was ratified unanimously today.

A proposal related to the procedure about naming the province was tabled at the PA meeting today. The proposal had NCP (NCP) chief whip Rameshwor Phunyal as its proposer and NC chief whip Radha Ghale and Bibekshil’s Ramesh Poudyal as its supporter.

Various PA members had put forth their views on the proposal.

The next PA meeting is scheduled for 3:00pm on Wednesday.