RASUWA, July 28: Large and heavy vehicles have been stopped from passing through the concrete bridge over the Timure Ghattekhola after the bridge was damaged due to rising water levels in the river.

The precaution has been taken as the water level in the Teko Thado river has increased with heavy rainfall causing damage to the bridge over Ghattekhola in the Timure-Ghattekhola road section of the Rasuwagadhi-Galchi highway, police inspector at the Border Police Post, Timure Dilip Chettri. Especially goods carrier trucks have been kept off the bridge since Friday afternoon.

As a result, hundreds of container trucks carrying goods imported from neigbouring China have remained stranded in the northern transit point, also causing revenue loss worth millions of rupees. Furthermore, the truck entrepreneurs are forced to pay high parking fee across the border.

Meanwhile, the road near Timure, obstructed due to landslide since Wednesday, has opened for traffic since Friday, according to the Border Police Post in Timure. Nine people had died in the landslide that took place at Timure.

The bodies have been handed over to the respective family for final rites, district police chief Santosh Tamang said.

RASUWA, July 30: A meeting held between the border security forces of Nepal and China ended Saturday with an agreement to beef up security and surveillance along the Nepal-China border in Rasuwa district.

The meeting that was held at the District Administration Office, Rasuwa agreed to intensity border security checks to prevent the cross-border illegal affairs including smuggling of drugs, wildlife paers and gold. Likewise, the meeting decided to exchange mutual information.

Rasuwa’s Chief District Officer Chomendra Neupane and China’s Jilong county colonel Gao Hui Hai led the respective sides in the meeting in which the Chinese side expressed its concern over the possibility of anti-China activities from the Nepal territory. In response, the Nepali side, expressing commitment to the One-China policy, pledged to take all necessary measures to avoid such possibility.

As for the request put forth by CDO Neupane for a ‘one-day pass’ system for facilitation of trade between the two countries, China’s Jilong County Colonel Gao answered in the affirmative provided the both countries agree to it at national level.

According to Gao, China has already made announcement to operate the bordering point issuing a 1-day pass for the people from other countries besides Nepal and China.

CDO Neupane shared that in keeping with the public’s interest, a coordination mechanism would be devised soon for facilitating trade of Nepali produce as vegetables, meat products and the like to Jilong in China.

In attendance in today’s meeting were China’s Customs and Immigration Quarantine officials and representatives from security bodies from both countries, according to Neupane. RSS