Modi pushes Nepal to frame constitution soon

Kathmandu: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made a strong pitch for the early drafting of Nepal's Constitution, saying if the country fails to do so it may get into difficulties.

"I request all political stakeholders to draft the Constitution by early next year as committed through consensus which will reflect aspirations of all communities, including Madhesis, Pahadis and Maoists...failing to do so can cause difficulties to Nepal and your difficulty despite our expertise to help you in this field is a matter of sadness," Modi said after inaugurating the trauma centre built by India at Kathmandu's Bir Hospital.

He said India will not like to interfere but having expertise and not being able to help Nepal from getting into difficulty will be sad. Modi's remarks came after Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala expressed confidence that Nepal will be able to draft its Constitution by early next year. The trauma centre inaugurated by Modi on Tuesday was to start operations in 2009. The 200-bedded centre is a Rs 1.5 billion project of the Indian government. The centre will have 150 beds in the trauma ward, six operation theatres, 14 ICUs, eight resuscitation rooms and beds for emergency observation, 10 examination cubicles in the outpatient department and a triage area.

The foundation of the centre was laid by former Prime Minister I K Gujral in 1997. Noting that a lot of decisions have made progress since his last visit in August this year, Modi said that Nepal's happiness and satisfaction on implementation of these projects gives India a reason to smile. He also said that India and Nepal have decided to allow Rs 500 and 1000 denomination notes of upto the limit of 25,000 which can be brought in from India. At present only Rs 100 denomination notes are allowed for Indian visitors in Nepal.