Online Khabar

Kathmandu, October 29. The ruling coalition has said it is willing to make a written commitment vis-a-vis United Democratic Madheshi Front’s preconditions for talks. Still, the government remains undecided when it comes to handling the issue of province delineation.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the UCPN-Maoist Chair Prachanda-headed high-level political mechanism made a three-point decision in response to UDMF’s demands.

It decided to pledge in writing, if need be, to provide Rs 10 lakh compensation to those who lost their lives during the Madhesh Movement and provide free treatment to the injured.

The mechanism authorised coordinator of the government talks team, Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, to make a written pledge to this effect. It decided to rephrase the constitution in a bid to placate the Madheshi front. Then Sushil Koirala government had registered an amendment proposal at the Parliament to the front’s demands related to electoral constituency delineation and proportional-inclusive representation.

Mechanism member and CPN-ML General Secretary CP Mainali told Online Khabar: At the meeting, we decided to go for rewording (of the constitution’s relevant sections, if need be.

The meeting also discussed the UDMF’s concerns against delineation of seven provinces. But it did not make any decision on the issue. The meet decided to address the issue through consensus achieved through a constitutional process, a leader informed.