India, Nepal to sign boundary map

Against the backdrop of alleged encroachment by India along the Indo-Nepal border, a joint committee set up to resolve the border issues between the two countries, is working towards finalising a boundary map.    

The technical-level committee is working towards finalisation of the map, Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Rakesh Sood told reporters here.     

"We are waiting for Nepal Government's nod to sign the boundary map (that will be signed by the two countries)," Sood said after meeting Nepalese Foreign Secretary Gyan Chandra Acharya yesterday. "We have been waiting for over a year to sign the agreement."     

He also informed that nearly 98 per cent of the border between Nepal and India has been demarcated. Now, we need to formally put our signature in the border map, he said.     

 

The joint committee, headed by Surveyor General of India and Director General of Nepal's Department of Survey, has been working in a coordinated manner towards demarcating and managing the border.

The country's Supreme Court yesterday issued a show-cause notice to the government, asking why it had failed to stop "Indian encroachment" in Nepal's territory along the 1,808-km border of the two countries.     

Advocates Santosh Basnet and Pushpa Thapaliya on Sunday filed a PIL, claiming there was an Indian encroachment on the border and demanded court intervention to order the government reclaim over 60,000 hectares of the country's territory "encroached" by India in 22 districts along the border.     

Nepal government has maintained there is no border encroachment in the area and no complaint has been received about harassment of Nepalese by Indian security forces. Nepal's Constituent Assembly and the Maoists have sent two separate teams to Dang district to assess the situation.