Length of Indo-Nepal border could change after re-demarcation: Officials

The gate that marks the Nepalese border with India, in Birgunj, Nepal. (AP File Photo)

Nihi Sharma, HT, Dehradun: The length of the 1,751-kilometre porous border between India and Nepal could change as many areas left out during the previous mapping will be added after a re-demarcation process, officials engaged in the ongoing survey of the international border have said.

Officials said the length of the boundary was calculated much before the British rule but it was realised that the mapping was not done conspicuously and some areas were not included in the process of demarcation.

A bilateral boundary working group headed by the respective surveyor generals of both the countries came together and decided to re-demarcate the boundary for which a survey was conducted between 1980-2007. Boundary strip maps were created after the survey and they are currently being replicated on the ground, officials said.

“It would be after the completion of the groundwork that we can talk of the length of the border, which will change as many areas that were left non-demarcated will be included,” Pankaj Mishra, deputy surveyor general (technical) of the Dehradun-based Survey of India, told the Hindustan Times.

The ground demarcation approved by surveyor generals of both the countries will ensure the restoration of existing pillars and installing new ones wherever the boundary was not marked. There were nearly 4,000 pillars, most of which were damaged or have disappeared over the decades.

The maps for demarcation on 98% of the length has been approved. However, there are still political issues over the remaining 2% of the border length on which the Union ministry of external affairs is in talks with Nepal. Once the government resolves the status of the 2% of the border area, the final agreement would be signed.

Fives Indian states - Uttarakhand (263km), Uttar Pradesh (560km), Bihar (729km), West Bengal (100km) and Sikkim (99km) - share a land border with Nepal. India and Nepal share an open border that is not fenced unlike its borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

India earlier signed a boundary agreement with Bangladesh in 1974 following which its revised version was adopted in 2015 after Parliament passed the 100th amendment. Enclaves were transferred on either side during which India reportedly lost 15 square metres of land to Bangladesh.