New border movement ‘regulations’ from Nov 1

Lucknow, Oct 9-Free and virtually unchecked movement across the India-Nepal border may soon become history, as governments in both sides have decided to strictly regulate the movement of people in the border areas. The regulations, to be enforced from November 1, largely aim at curbing infiltration by “undesirable elements” through the Himalayan kingdom into India. The decision has come after a high-level meeting of officials from the two sides in New Delhi earlier this week.
State Principal Home Secretary Alok Sinha told reporters here today: “The meeting was organised to thrash out a strategy to curb infiltration by undesirable elements, particularly non-Nepali citizens.” He said the idea behind the move was not to harass or cause inconvenience to Nepali citizens.
However, spokesperson of the Home Ministry in Kathmandu, Gopendra Pandey, said today that till now, he had no knowledge about any such meeting. “No central level official has gone to New Delhi for any such meeting,” he said. “People crossing the border on either side will now have to produce some kind of identification. For those, whose movement across the border was quite frequent, both Indian and Nepalese governments will issue passes,” Sinha said. As per the agreement, the exercise would commence with the setting up of two integrated check-posts with officials from customs, immigration and the SSB.“To begin with, the check-posts would be set up at Rupaidiha and Sunauli,” Sinha said.