India's field office to be removed in Nepal

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that the field office of the Indian Embassy in Biratnagar will soon be removed as it has outlived its purpose.

This was announced on May 19, during the first parliamentary party meeting of the Nepal Communist Party.

In 2008, Nepal had allowed India to set up a temporary field office to issue passes for vehicles to ply Indian roads in the nearby regions after a 17 km stretch of the East-West highway was damaged due to Koshi floods, according to Kathmandu Post.

The office initially was set up in Sunsari. It was later shifted to Biratnagar. Currently, it is located at Malaya Road on the Koshi Highway.

The Nepali government had asked India to remove the Biratnagar office after the repair work was finished. But then India started distributing scholarships and taking up various social activities and the office wasn't removed.

The Nepal Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier asked the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu to review the presence of the Indian field office in the wake of security vulnerabilities and diplomatic sensibilities.

According to the Kathmandu Post, India sought the government's permission to establish a Consulate General Office in Biratnagar by upgrading the field office in 2014.