China Using Road Construction to Encroach on Nepali Land: Report

A Nepal govt report says China is using road construction to encroach on Nepali land & may set up border outposts.

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. 

(Photo: @PM_Nepal)

A Nepal government report has said that China is using road construction to encroach on Nepali land and may set up border outposts in these areas in the future, ANI reported on Tuesday, 23 June.

According to a document by Nepal’s agriculture department, China has encroached at least 10 places in Nepal. It has also warned that Beijing could take over more territory if the rivers continue to change course and the loss of Nepalese territory could run into “hundreds of hectare land”, a Hindustan Times report highlighted.

“There is a high possibility that over the period of time, China may develop its Border Observation Post of Armed Police in those territories,” said the government document.

The Nepal government department has also assessed that the changing course of 11 rivers had already cost Nepal 36 hectares.

Last year, protests were held on the streets of Nepal after the reports of losing Nepalese territory to China emerged in the media.

Bihar Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha, on Tuesday, said that Nepal is obstructing flood prevention measures in the state.

“They [Nepal] are not allowing repair works for the Gandak dam on the Lalbakeya river in no man’s land on the Indo-Nepal border. They have also been creating an obstruction in flood prevention measures at several other places and this has never happened in the past … for the first time the state government is facing such a problem in movement of people and raw materials for repair works on embankments along the Indo-Nepal border,” said Jha as per The Hindu.

This new development comes days after the Nepal Parliament cleared a new map that claims parts of Indian territory in Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas.

India has rejected this new map of Nepal saying it is not based on historical facts or evidence. However, the tensions between India and China have been mounting since then.

(With inputs from ANI, Hindustan Times & The Hindu)