<p>Notwithstanding the strains in the relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu, the senior diplomats of the two governments had a video conference to review implementation of the development projects funded by India in Nepal.</p>.<p>The two sides underlined the need for the expeditious implementation of the projects and agreed to undertake necessary measures to timely address problems and obstacles in the course of implementation.</p>.<p>New Delhi’s ambassador to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, led the delegation from the Government of India in the video conference and co-chaired the meeting with Nepalese Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi.</p>.<p>The 8th meeting of the Oversight Committee set up to review the progress in implementing the development projects funded by India in Nepal took place amid souring relations between the two neighbouring nations. It was held just two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a “courtesy call” from his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli, who greeted the people and the government of India on the 74th Independence Day.</p>.<p>The projects reviewed during the meeting included roads in Terai region of Nepal, cross-border railways, Arun-III hydroelectric project, petroleum products pipelines, Pancheshwar multipurpose project, post-earthquake reconstruction, irrigation, power and transmission lines, construction of Nepal Police Academy, integrated check posts, Ramayana Tourism Circuit and motorable bridges over Mahakali River apart from the cooperation in the field of agriculture and protecting cultural heritage, according to a press-release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nepalese Government.</p>.<p>Kwatra and Bairagi noted the progress made in the development projects in the last one year, including reconstruction of 46,301 earthquake affected houses (out of 50,000 houses committed by India) in Gorkha and Nuwakot districts of Nepal, the operationalisation of Motihari-Amlekhgunj cross-border petroleum products pipeline, the Integrated Check Post at Biratnagar and the High Impact Community Development Projects, the Embassy of India in Kathmandu stated, adding that Bairagi also conveyed to Kwatra appreciation of the Nepalese Government for Covid-19 related assistance, including the supply of medicines and medical equipment to Nepal by India.</p>.<p>The meeting took place nearly three months after the Oli Government lodged a protest over a new 80-kilometre-long road New Delhi built from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass – an India-Nepal-China tri-junction boundary point. It alleged that the road passed through Nepal – a claim dismissed by India. Kathmandu, however, went ahead, published a new map, which showed nearly 400 sq km of India’s areas in Kalapani, Lipulekh Pass and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal. It also got the Nepalese Parliament to amend the country’s constitution to endorse the new map.</p>.<p>New Delhi suspects that Beijing played a role in making the Oli Government ratchet up the India-Nepal territorial dispute – at a time when Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is engaged in a military stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the strains in the relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu, the senior diplomats of the two governments had a video conference to review implementation of the development projects funded by India in Nepal.</p>.<p>The two sides underlined the need for the expeditious implementation of the projects and agreed to undertake necessary measures to timely address problems and obstacles in the course of implementation.</p>.<p>New Delhi’s ambassador to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, led the delegation from the Government of India in the video conference and co-chaired the meeting with Nepalese Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi.</p>.<p>The 8th meeting of the Oversight Committee set up to review the progress in implementing the development projects funded by India in Nepal took place amid souring relations between the two neighbouring nations. It was held just two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a “courtesy call” from his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli, who greeted the people and the government of India on the 74th Independence Day.</p>.<p>The projects reviewed during the meeting included roads in Terai region of Nepal, cross-border railways, Arun-III hydroelectric project, petroleum products pipelines, Pancheshwar multipurpose project, post-earthquake reconstruction, irrigation, power and transmission lines, construction of Nepal Police Academy, integrated check posts, Ramayana Tourism Circuit and motorable bridges over Mahakali River apart from the cooperation in the field of agriculture and protecting cultural heritage, according to a press-release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nepalese Government.</p>.<p>Kwatra and Bairagi noted the progress made in the development projects in the last one year, including reconstruction of 46,301 earthquake affected houses (out of 50,000 houses committed by India) in Gorkha and Nuwakot districts of Nepal, the operationalisation of Motihari-Amlekhgunj cross-border petroleum products pipeline, the Integrated Check Post at Biratnagar and the High Impact Community Development Projects, the Embassy of India in Kathmandu stated, adding that Bairagi also conveyed to Kwatra appreciation of the Nepalese Government for Covid-19 related assistance, including the supply of medicines and medical equipment to Nepal by India.</p>.<p>The meeting took place nearly three months after the Oli Government lodged a protest over a new 80-kilometre-long road New Delhi built from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass – an India-Nepal-China tri-junction boundary point. It alleged that the road passed through Nepal – a claim dismissed by India. Kathmandu, however, went ahead, published a new map, which showed nearly 400 sq km of India’s areas in Kalapani, Lipulekh Pass and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal. It also got the Nepalese Parliament to amend the country’s constitution to endorse the new map.</p>.<p>New Delhi suspects that Beijing played a role in making the Oli Government ratchet up the India-Nepal territorial dispute – at a time when Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is engaged in a military stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.</p>
