Provisional capitals of provinces tomorrow

Kathmandu, December 11

The government is likely to name the provisional capitals of provinces in the next Cabinet meeting.

According to Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare Bikram Bahadur Thapa, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba told the meeting of the Cabinet that he wanted to finalise the names of provisional headquarters and the names of provincial governors on Wednesday.

Another Cabinet minister said the government was likely to name apolitical persons with clean image as governors. Sources said the prime minister could consult the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC before naming the governors of provinces.

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Yagya Bahadur Thapa said the government would appoint governors for full terms and not just for a few months as suggested by some.

As per legal provisions, governors, who serve as head of provinces, should not have political affiliation.

Spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Hari Prasad Panthi said a proposal to name provisional headquarters of provinces could be discussed in the next meeting of the Cabinet. He added that the government would name only provisional headquarters and provincial assemblies would name permanent headquarters of provinces.

He said Pokhara could be named provisional headquarters for Province 4 and Surkhet for Province 6, as there was no dispute on these two. He said opinions were divided on whether Butwal or Dang could be the provisional headquarters for Province 5. “Some even say that one of the three places in Dang — Ghorahi, Lamahi or Tulsipur — should be named provisional headquarters of Province 5,” Panthi added.

Opinions were divided on whether Kailali or Doti should be the provisional headquarters of Province 7.

He said Biratnagar was likely to be the provisional capital of Province 1 instead of Dhankuta.

The government is most likely to name Janakpur Dham as the provisional headquarters for Province 2.

Panthi added that any city of Kathmandu Valley or Kavrepalanchowk could be the provisional capital of Province 3.