The first ever meeting of the Provincial Assembly, which was held at the temporary headquarters of Province 3 in Hetauda on Thursday, concluded by setting the date for electing the Speaker.

The event is another move towards implementing the federal structure outlined in the constitution adopted in 2015. First meetings of all the assemblies in the seven provinces have been scheduled to take place by next week.

The Province 3 assembly will meet next at 3pm on February 10. The session chaired by senior-most member Dormani Poudel on Thursday appointed Roj Raj Pandey, joint-secretary at the PA secretariat, as the election officer.

Province 3 has become the first among the seven provinces to hold the assembly. All the 110 members elected from Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Sindhupalchok, Kavre, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan and Makwanpur districts attended the first session in Hetauda.

Governor Anuradha Koirala had summoned the first session of the assembly at 1pm. Lawmakers started arriving at the venue one hour before the schedule on Thursday. Marshals had a tough time identifying lawmakers as the latter are yet to get their badges. While most male members were clad in Daura Suruwal, female members were dressed in Sari.

The historic session continued for about an hour. Representatives of the political parties in the Province 3 assembly—CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), Bibeksheel Sajha Party, Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, RPP-Prajatantrik and the Naya Shakti Party—were given time to speak.

Addressing the session, lawmakers underscored the need for national unity and cooperation among the major parties for prosperity and development of the province by institutionalising federalism.

UML leader Ashtalaxmi Shakya, one of the aspirants for chief minister, said all the parties should move together for social transformation and towards an inclusive and equitable society by maintaining “unity in diversity”.

“We need to move forward with the politics of consensus and democracy to make this province prosperous,” she added. NC lawmaker from Makwanpur district Indra Bahadur Baniya demanded that Hetauda be made the permanent capital of Province 3. He warned against attempts to shift the provincial capital to any other place.

“There will be serious challenges to federalism if the provincial capital is shifted from Hetauda,” said Baniya, arguing that one could reach Hetauda from Kathmandu within 35 minutes after the Kathmandu-Nijgadh Fast Track is built.

Maoist Centre leader Shalikram Jamakattel said there was no alternative to consensus among the major parties to make Province 3 a model federal unit in the country.