Recently elected people’s representatives in provinces 1 and 4 have pledged to take people out of poverty through rational use of their natural and cultural resources as their provincial assemblies held the first meeting on Monday. With this, all the seven provinces have convened their assemblies.

The assemblies met in the temporary provincial headquarters Biratnagar and Pokhara. The historic meetings endorsed the interim working procedures and announced the dates for speaker and deputy speaker elections.

The Biratnagar assembly lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours. The session chaired by senior-most member OM Prakash Sarabagi has called another meeting on February 12 for speaker and deputy speaker elections.

CPN-UML leader Bhim Acharya, one of the frontrunners for the chief minister post, Nepali Congress leader Chandra Prasad Shrestha and CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Indra Bahadur Angbo, among four other members, addressed the assembly. Exchanging greetings and wishes for a successful tenure, they stressed the need to work together for development and prosperity in the province.

The Province 4 Assembly, which convened at Nadipur in Pokhara, scheduled the speaker and deputy speaker elections for February 15. The first meeting chaired by senior-most member Janak Lal Shrestha also endorsed the interim working procedures.

Members who addressed the assembly said they would make Province 4 a “model” and lead it towards prosperity. As its geography borders both China and India, lawmakers said they have plenty of opportunities to develop the province. They put forth their plans to develop Pokhara as a hub for tourism, education and sports.

Prithvi Subba Gurung, Kiran Gurung and Srijana Sharma of the UML, Krishna Chandra Nepali, Dobate Bishwokarma and Lalitkala Gurung of the NC, Hari Bahadur Chuman, Netra Nath Adhikari and Gayatri Gurung of the Maoist Centre, Krishna Thapa of the Rastriya Janamorcha and Hari Sharan Acharya of the Naya Shakti Party Nepal expressed their views on the occasion.

Addressing the assembly, Rastriya Janamorcha leader Thapa argued that federalism does not suit Nepal. “Our party is always against the federal system of governance,” he said.

The province has 11 districts—Gorkha, Lamjung, Kaski, Tanahun, Syangja, Nawalparasi, Mustang, Myagdi, Baglung, Parbat and Manang.

There are 59 members in the province including 27 from the UML, 15 from the NC, 12 from the Maoist Centre, three from the Janamorcha, two from the Naya Shakti and one independent.

Of them, Rajeev Gurung aka Deepak Manange, who was elected as an independent candidate from Manang 1 (B), has not yet taken the oath since he is on the run after being convicted of attempted murder.