SURKHET, Feb 25: Province 6 has become the first federal province to get a name and also to decide on its capital . From Saturday, Province 6 has become Karnali Province, and Birendranagar is its capital.
A meeting of the provincial assembly convened on Saturday unanimously endorsed the proposal to name the province 'Karnali' and also fixed Birendranagar in Surket as the capital of the province. Until now, Birendranagar was the temporary provincial capital .
CPN-UML Parliamentary Party leader of the province Yam Lal Kadel had proposed the name of the province while Din Bandu Shrestha of Nepali Congress, Ganesh Prasad Singh of CPN (Maoist Center) and Sohila Sahi of Rastriya Prajatantra Party seconded the proposal.
Tabling the proposal , Kadel said, “Even though the province includes Karnali, Bheri and Rapti , the name Karnali can best represent the province given the historical context. So, I would like to propose that the province be named Karnali.”
Prov 6 named as Karnali, permanent capital in Birendranagar
Kadel, who hails from Bheri, presented various arguments to justify why the province should be named Karnali. When the floor was opened for other lawmakers to air their views on the proposal, not a single lawmaker argued against it.
Speaking at the assembly, lawmaker from Jumla Dig Bandu Shrestha said Karnali will be an appropriate name as it sends out a strong message of geographical unity.
The meeting later unanimously endorsed the proposal. After that, another proposal was also tabled at the assembly, to fix Birendranagar as the provincial capital .
Nepali Congress PP leader of the province Jiwan Bahadur Sahi had proposed to make Birendranagar the province capital while Ambar Bahadur Sahi of CPN-UML and Naresh Bhandari of CPN (Maoist Center) seconded the proposal.
Some lawmakers had been demanding that Jumla be made the capital of the province while others had been demanding Humla as the capital . So the matter was put to a vote.
The proposal was easily endorsed as only one lawmaker voted against .
Lawmakers from CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center) and Nepal Congress voted for the proposal. Only Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Soshila Sahi voted against .
