KATHMANDU, MAR 16 – The joint Nepal-India boundary up-gradation works will start on Thursday. A senior government official said on Monday that they have received confirmation from the Indian side to begin the works based on the agreements made earlier.

“First off, there will be border survey works from eastern Nepal. After that, the two sides will start the works regarding upgradation of border pillars,” the official said.

Separate survey teams will be deployed to determine the condition of the border pillars. They will use the maps, which were jointly prepared by the two countries in 2007, as reference. Chief district officers from Nepal and district magistrates from India will lead their respective teams in the boundary upgradation works.

Nepal and India have prepared 182 sheets of boundary maps which include the highly disputed areas such as Susta and Kalapani.

On February 12, the Cabinet meeting had approved the proposal to send officials for border survey. Nepali and Indian officials had also held preparatory meetings for the joint boundary works in the first week of February. Director General of Department of Survey Madhusudan Adhikari said that each team will have four additional detachment groups.

“The first team will keep record of pillars, the second will reconstruct missing or damaged pillars, the third will clear the no man’s land, handle the cross-holding issue and conduct inventory, and the fourth will study GPS and set the border pillars and boundary based on the maps prepared by the two sides,” Adhikari said.

Nepal and India have erected a total of 8,553 border pillars, of which 1,325 are missing and 1,956 are damaged.

“We will erect new pillars in places where the pillars are missing and the existing ones will be painted white. We anticipate that the issue of cross-holding will take more time than erecting or renovating the border pillars,” Adhikari said. The two sides plan to complete the works within four years.