‘CHINESE RAILWAY IN NEPAL ONLY AN IMAGINATION’

NEW DELHI, May 26: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Indian coordinator of Eminent Persons Group (EPG) Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has expressed confidence Indian rail will reach Kathmandu first.

“India wants to build Raxaul-Kathmandu railway as soon as possible. I myself have talked Prime Minister Narendra Modi about this,” said Koshiyari talking to Rishi Dhamala, who is in New Delhi, on Sunday.

Nepal and India agreed to construct a 113 km railway line linking Raxaul with Kathmandu during Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s first visit to the southern Neighbor. Moreover, a team of technical officers from India have already identified Chobhar as the terminus of the railway line.

Nepal also reached an agreement with China on construction details of a railway line linking India with Lhasa in Tibet through Kathmandu in August 2018.

Koshiyari claimed that Chinese railway in Nepal is “only an imagination”.

On a different note, Koshiyari also said that the Indian government will receive the EPG report very soon.

“India is carrying out home works. After a new Foreign minister is appointed, I will talk to him,” he added.

Earlier Koshiyari had assured that the Indian government would receive the report once the election is over.

The India General Elections completed recently. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats, with BJP-led alliance wining a total of 353 seats. The main opposition party Congress won 52 seats and Congress-led alliance won 92—which saw the largest opposition party losing the position as official opposition party since a party must win at least 10 percent of the total number of seats (55 seats) in the parliament to earn its position as an official opposition party.

“Now, the election is over. I am confident PM Modi will receive the report.”

“We have worked hard to prepare this report. It will be a milestone document. The report will address all the problems surfaced in India-Nepal bilateral relation.”

“We have incorporated the issues from 1950 Treaty to Kalapani border dispute in the document. We have found a solution in the report,” he added.

He also claimed that PM Modi has remained successful to win the hearts of Nepali people.

“He has already said he would make efforts to take India-Nepal bilateral relation to ever greater heights,” he added.

“Some minor hiccups that have occurred will be resolved. India-Nepal diplomatic relation will reach a new and more positive dimension.”

He also assured that India will cooperate with Nepali in its journey of economic development and prosperity.

KATHMANDU, June 8: Nepal and India has jointly begun the preliminary feasibility study for the proposed Kathmandu-Raxaul railway on Friday. A joint team has started carrying out the study, according to Department of Railways, Nepal.

The railway department shared that the joint team will visit Chobahar, where a railway station has been proposed. After that the team will reach Birjung to carry out study, according to senior engineer at Railway Department, Prakash Bhakta Upadhyay.

The railway will be 113 kilometer long, of which around 20 percent will be tunnels and bridges.

After the team submits the preliminary study report after three months, a detailed project report (DPR) on Kathmandu-Raxaul railway will be prepared. If everything goes as planned, the construction of railway will begin after around two years.

On April 7, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, during Oli’s India visit, had agreed to construct a new electrified rail line connecting the border city of Raxaul in India to Kathmandu, with India’s financial support.