Nepal, India to conduct joint study on construction activities being undertaken around Mahakali River

Nepal and India have agreed to carry out a joint study on construction activities underway in and around the Mahakali River in Darchula district, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali announced on Monday.

Responding to the questions raised by lawmakers in the Parliament on Monday, Minister Gyawali informed the meeting that both nations have formed a team to conduct the study and it will be deployed at the site on April 12.

"On April 12, which lies just a week ahead, Nepal and India Survey officials would inspect a site and conduct a joint-on-site study where they will look onto whether wall being built there respects the international border or not. It would bring forward facts and figures," Foreign Minister Gyawali announced.

As per Gyawali, the Government of Nepal earlier also had sent a team led by the Chief Survey Officer of Darchula district to make a field study of the security wall being constructed by India on its side of Mahakali River on January 6 amid reports of encroachment.

The team included representatives of the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, Nepal Police, and the District Administration Office, Darchula. Gyawali informed the meeting that border experts from both countries are making the field study as per recommendations made by the team that it would be appropriate to find the exact measurement of the wall with the help of survey officials of both the countries and raise this issue with relevant Indian authorities.

Earlier on March 23, Nepali Congress lawmaker Dilendra Prasad Badu had urged govt to take diplomatic initiatives to save Nepali territory as India has expedited the construction of an embankment along Mahakali River.

Addressing the meeting of the House of Representatives, lawmaker Badu claimed that around 25 hectares of Nepali land had turned into the riverbank on the Indian side of the border.

( With inputs from ANI )