KATHMANDU: The Bagmati Province government has begun preparations to convene the Provincial Assembly meeting in January.
The move comes after opposition parties stepped up pressure on the government to call the Assembly session. Chief Minister Indra Bahadur Baniya said preparations are underway to hold the meeting by the third week of Poush.
“The Provincial Assembly meeting is being prepared to be convened by the third week of Poush,” Chief Minister Baniya said. “The Assembly hall was damaged due to vandalism and arson during the Gen-Z movement. For now, arrangements are being made to run the session temporarily from the conference hall of the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers near the Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City office.”
He said work related to furniture, microphone installation and other logistics will be completed within a few days, after which the government will move ahead with calling the meeting.
According to the Chief Minister, the Deputy Speaker and chairs of subject committees under the Provincial Assembly are also engaged in discussions to prepare for the session. “They are holding regular consultations with leaders of various political parties. We will soon write to the Province Chief to convene the meeting,” he said, adding that the Assembly session will begin once the formal process is completed.
A few days ago, a joint meeting of the Deputy Speaker, committee chairs and senior officials of the Provincial Assembly Secretariat, held on the initiative of the Province Affairs Committee, had urged the provincial government to immediately convene the Assembly.
“We held a meeting on our initiative and requested the government to move ahead with the Assembly session,” said Province Affairs Committee Chair Chhiring Dorje Lama. “The government has assured us that preparations are underway. Hopefully, the Assembly meeting will be convened soon.”
Opposition parties represented in the Bagmati Provincial Assembly have been demanding the immediate convening of the winter session, warning that they would proceed as per the Assembly regulations if the government fails to do so.
Leaders from the CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Hamro Nepali Party had earlier met Chief Minister Baniya, urging him to immediately call the winter session of the Assembly.
The post of Speaker in the Bagmati Provincial Assembly has remained vacant since September 17, after then Speaker Bhuvan Kumar Pathak submitted his written resignation following the Gen-Z movement, having earlier announced his resignation on social media. The ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML have both laid claim to the vacant Speaker’s post.
Due to the lack of consensus between the two ruling parties, the Provincial Assembly has failed to convene for the past four months.
On the recommendation of the provincial government, Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota had ended the previous session of the Assembly from the night of November 19. However, it is widely believed that the continued deadlock over the Speaker’s post has delayed the calling of a new session.
Comment