Officials at the Department of Survey (DoS) said border disputes have become complex due to breach of the agreement on land tilling by the Indian side.

During a discussion programme held in Dhangadhi on Thursday, Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, director general of the Survey Department, claimed that the Indian side has not honoured the agreement. “People living in the border areas—both on Nepali and Indian sides—have agreed to till the land until the border demarcation. However, the Indian side has breached the agreement,” said Bhatta.

The issue among landowners in the areas is the main reason behind the border dispute, according to Bhatta. The DoS has also briefed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is beginning a three-day official visit of India on Friday.

“We have advised PM Oli to keep this issue in a joint communiqué. He has taken this issue seriously,” Bhatta said. According to him, Indian people have been cultivating crops in Nepali land and the Indian side has even encroached upon a forest.

“Both Nepali and Indian people have been tilling up the land in border areas. But the Indian side have been using 10 times more land in Nepal than what the Nepalis are doing on the other side,” said an official of the DoS who attended the discussion.

While there is no official data of borderland being used by Nepali and Indian people, areas along an estimated 640km of border are under dispute. The DoS said that joint Nepal-India survey teams, mobilised in various parts of the border area, have already surveyed 6,082 border pillars, reinstated 713 border pillars and repaired 1,547 border pillars. There are a total of 8,553 border pillars along the Nepal-India border.

Gandak victims demand PM take up their problems

People, whose farmlands have been inundated due to the Gandak canal, have requested Prime Minister Oli to draw the Indian government’s attention for compensation. The representatives of the Gandak Victim Struggle Committee, have drawn the attention of PM Oli through Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali in Kathmandu. They said that people living in Tribeni Susta, Rupauliya, Kudiya, Narsahi, Paklihawa, Guthiprasauni, Bedauli, Thulokhairatawa, Bhujahawa, Somani, Jamuniya and Pratapur are affected by the canal every year.