A proposal has been registered at Province 3 secretariat on declaring Bhaktapur as the provincial capital.

The proposal, submitted by CPN-UML Province Assembly members Shashi Jung Thapa and Hari Lamichhane on Monday, presents 10 cases on why Bhaktapur is an ideal location to base the province headquarters.

This is the third proposal received by the secretariat on designating the province capital. The assembly members from Kavre and Nuwakot have already submitted their proposals. According to the constitutional provision, the support of two-thirds majority of the Province Assembly members is required to designate the seat of government. 

The town of Hetauda in Makwanpur district is currently the temporary capital of Province 3.

The assembly is yet to discuss the proposals submitted by the legislators of Kavre, Nuwakot and Bhaktapur.

In Sunday’s assembly, UML’s Keshav Prasad Pokharel and Nepali Congress’s Bijula Barma and Bijaya Shrestha KC called for scheduling a session to discuss the proposals on designating the province capital.

Meanwhile, political parties, legislators, local unit representatives and business community in Makwanpur are also making preparations to make Hetauda as the official capital of Province 3.

An all-party meeting was organised by the District Coordination Committee, Makwanpur, on Monday where the participants demanded that Hetauda should be made the permanent capital of the province.  

National Assembly member Ramchandra Rai said attempts to designate places near Kathmandu as the province capital is against the spirit of federalism.

Bills on perks, salary up for discussion

The Provincial Assembly on Sunday endorsed two bills related to perks and salary of chief minister, ministers, parliamentarians, speakers, deputy speaker and other officials for discussion. The bills were tabled by Chief Minister (CM) Dormani Poudel and Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Salikram Jamrakattel. The monthly pay of chief minister has been set at Rs 60,970 per month. The salaries of ministers, state ministers and assistant ministers have been set at Rs 52,000, Rs 49,000 and Rs 47,000. The wages of speaker, deputy speaker and assembly members have been pegged at Rs 53,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 45,000.