News Analysis India

Tag: India-Nepal border

  • India-Nepal border to be sealed for 72 hrs before Nov 20 general polls in neighbouring country 

    By PTI

    MAHARAJGANJ (UP): The India-Nepal border will be sealed for 72 hours before the November 20 general elections in the neighbouring country to prevent the movement of anti-social elements across the boundary, a senior official said on Saturday.

    Maharajganj District Magistrate Satendra Kumar said a high-level meeting between officials of the two countries was held in the Rupandehi district of Nepal on Saturday about the election to the House of Representatives in the neighbouring nation.

    “A decision to seal the border for 72 hours from November 17 till 12 midnight of November 20 was taken at the meeting of the coordination committee of officials of the neighbouring districts of the two countries,” he said.

    The meeting was attended by officers of the local administration, police, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the Army, customs, immigration and other departments concerned of both countries.

    It was also decided that additional security would be maintained along the border to keep a watch on chaotic elements.

    Chief District Officers of Rupandehi, Kapilvastu and West Nawalparasi of Lumbini province in Nepal, district magistrates and superintendents of police of India’s Siddharthnagar and Maharajganj districts participated in the coordination meeting.

    Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3-km-long open border with Nepal touching Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj districts.

    MAHARAJGANJ (UP): The India-Nepal border will be sealed for 72 hours before the November 20 general elections in the neighbouring country to prevent the movement of anti-social elements across the boundary, a senior official said on Saturday.

    Maharajganj District Magistrate Satendra Kumar said a high-level meeting between officials of the two countries was held in the Rupandehi district of Nepal on Saturday about the election to the House of Representatives in the neighbouring nation.

    “A decision to seal the border for 72 hours from November 17 till 12 midnight of November 20 was taken at the meeting of the coordination committee of officials of the neighbouring districts of the two countries,” he said.

    The meeting was attended by officers of the local administration, police, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the Army, customs, immigration and other departments concerned of both countries.

    It was also decided that additional security would be maintained along the border to keep a watch on chaotic elements.

    Chief District Officers of Rupandehi, Kapilvastu and West Nawalparasi of Lumbini province in Nepal, district magistrates and superintendents of police of India’s Siddharthnagar and Maharajganj districts participated in the coordination meeting.

    Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3-km-long open border with Nepal touching Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj districts.

  • Nepalese citizens entering India through Pithoragarh to be tested for COVID at border

    By PTI
    PITHORAGARH: Nepalese citizens entering India through the three main border bridges in the district will now have to undergo a rapid antigen test on arrival before they are allowed to proceed further, a senior official said on Friday.

    “We took the decision after the corona negative reports carried by some of the Nepalese migrants from their country were found to be fake,” Pithoragarh’s Chief Medical Officer HC Pant said.

    Nepalese citizens were allowed to enter India through the border bridges at Jhoolaghat, Dharchula and Jauljibi last month if they carried along with them a negative corona test report issued by medical authorities in Nepal.

    “However, when some of the corona test reports shown by the Nepalese citizens at the border were found to be fake, we decided to conduct our own rapid antigen tests on every incoming Nepalese migrant, before permitting them on Indian soil,” Pant said.

  • Uttarakhand: Entry of Nepalese citizens restricted as state records 6,054 new COVID cases

    By PTI
    PITHORAGARH: Entry of people from Nepal into India through the border bridges connecting the two countries in Champawat and Pithoragarh districts has been restricted following the resurgence of COVID cases, officials said on Wednesday.

    The administrations of the two border districts have made it mandatory for people coming to India from Nepal for daily marketing through the border bridges to bring their corona negative test reports not older than 72 hours with them, an official in Tanakpur in Champawat said.

    There are more than half a dozen border bridges in the two districts through which  a large number of Nepalese citizens visit the Indian markets daily.

    “We have advised every Nepalese citizen wanting to enter India to bring corona negative report not older than 72 hours with them without which they will not be permitted to enter,” said Himanshu Kaphaltia, SDM of Tanakpur sub division of Champawat district.

    People from Nepal routinely come to the Indian markets through the bridges to buy essentials and meet their relatives living on this side of the border but with the steep surge in COVID-19 cases, it was felt necessary to impose the restrictions, he said.

    An officer of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) posted at Dharchula Man Singh said several Nepalese citizens have been asked to returned from the border as they did not have the mandatory negative RT-PCR report with them.

    SSB is the designated force to guard the open Indian fronts with Nepal.

    The state recorded the highest single-day spike of 6,054 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 1,68,616, while 108 deaths pushed the toll to 2,417.

    Dehradun district accounted for the maximum number of 2,329 cases, followed by Haridwar, which reported 1,178 cases, Udham Singh Nagar 849, Nainital 665, Chamoli 175,Pauri 174 Champawat 153, Almora 140, Bageshwar 128 and Tehri 109, a state health department bulletin here said.

    There are 45,383 active COVID-19 cases in the state, while 1,17,221 have recovered, it said.

  • Tension grips border in UP’s Pilibhit after Nepal cops kill Indian youth

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Tension gripped Indo-Nepal border near Hajara area in Pilibhit district in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh when Nepal Police opened fire at Indian civilians killing one and leaving another injured.

    The victim, identified as Govinda Singh, had crossed over to Nepal with his friends Gurmej Singh, Pappu Singh and Resham Singh allegedly for shopping on Thursday. All were residents of Raghav Puri village situated on border in Pilibhit. On their return, they had an altercation with Nepal Police jawans who opened fire killing Govinda on the spot and causing a bullet injury to Gurmej. They alsotook Govinda’s body along with them.

    Three others – Gurmej, Pappu and Resham – tried to escape the firepower of Nepal police but one of them, Gurmej, received a bullet on his chest.

    Subsequently, both Pappu and Resham made Gurmej sit in between them on the mobike parked on the Indian side and narrated the incident to the SSB jawans deployed at the border before rushing Gurmej to a hospital in Palia in adjoining Lakhimpur Kheri district, 28 km from Pilibhit. Later Gurmej was shifted to KGMU in Lucknow in a critical condition.

    Meanwhile, tension prevailed on the border when irate residents in Indian side threatened to take revenge. The villagers claimed that all four had gone to work in the field on the other side and the Nepal police chased them for no fault. It is a usual practice on Indo-Nepal border that residents of both the countries cross over to each other’s territory to work in fields, shop, study or even to vote.

    In fact, under the impact of the pandemic, the Indo-Nepal border has been lying closed since March last year. However, villagers continue to cross over stealthily.

    Pilibhit has around 52-km porous border with neighbouring Nepal guarded by Seema Surakhsha Bal (SSB) round the clock. Nepalis usually cross over to India to work as farm labourers.

    After the firing incident, residents of border villages including Raghavpuri, Kambojnagar, Bamanpur, Bhagirath and Bailha are agitated.

    As per the sources, after the incident, the Nepal Police took Govinda’s body to the government hospital in Belauri which is around five km away from border in the Nepal side. The Nepal police claimed it to be an encounter killing.

    However, Pilibhit District Magistrate Pulkit Khare and SP Jai Prakash are camping in the area along with heavy force to monitor the situation.

    Tension escalated further when the Indian side spotted Nepal Army patrolling the border. The ADG Zone Avinash Chandra rushed to the border on learning about the prevailing tension. The district administration has sent a report on the incident and situation prevailing to the External Affairs ministry.

    After intervention by the External Affairs ministry, a meeting of senior officers from both sides took place at the border to reduce tension on Friday.

    Following the high level talks between senior officers of the two sides, Nepal Police agreed to hand over the body of Govinda to the SSB at Gaurifanta, the international border between the two countries.

  • Indian authorities stop construction by Nepal residents in No Man’s Land

    Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: District administration on Friday stopped a few Nepalese residents from further building concrete structure in ‘No-Man’s Land’ at India-Nepal border in Champawat district.

    The district administration has also raised the issue with the Nepalese authorities. Officials said that the authorities assured them that the structure will be removed in four days. 

    Himanshu Kaftalia, sub-divisional magistrate of Tanakpur, Champawat district said, “We went to the spot and halted the construction and have requested the Nepalese authorities to remove the structures. They have assured us to do so”.

    Chief district officer and superintendent of police of armed police forces of Kanchanpur district visited the spot and the village to talk to people and survey the area. CDO of the district is equivalent to DM of an Indian district while SP of APF is equivalent of the district police chief of an Indian district.

    Earlier in July 2020, the Nepalese residents had reportedly built around 23 wooden and concrete structures in No Man’s Land on Indian side which became a thorny issue between Indian and Nepalese authorities.

    The Nepal residents claim that the 150-meter land is theirs contrary to the claims of India.

    According to the Indian officials, Nepalese nationals had encroached upon area near Pillar 811 and Tanakpur barrage in Champawat district claiming to be theirs. 

  • Earthquake of magnitude 4.0 hits Nepal-India border in Sikkim

    By ANI
    GANGTOK: An earthquake of magnitude 4.0 on the Richter scale occurred near the Nepal-India border in Sikkim today, according to the National Centre for Seismology.

    “Earthquake of Magnitude: 4.0, Occurred on 05-02-2021, 03:43:10 IST, Lat: 27.86 & Long: 88.14, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Nepal – India (Sikkim) Border,” NCS tweeted.

    No loss of life and property has been reported so far. Further details are awaited.