Nepal asks India to stop road construction in Lipulekh amid boundary row

Nepal requested India to stop the 'unilateral construction and expansion' of roads to its East of Kali River territory on Sunday. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to widen the road across the Linpulekh area, on December 30, while addressing the election rally hosted by BJP at Haldwani in Uttarakhand. 

Territories including, Limpiadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, East of Kali river, are integral of Nepal, and India must stop any construction or expansion of roads, said the Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, spokesperson of Nepal's minister for Information and Broadcasting. 

Karki also added any dispute between India and Nepal must be settled diplomatically, on the basis of historic documents, maps and papers that prove the spirit of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. 

India pressed the ongoing construction comes under Indian territory; however, it could solve any dispute through dialogue in the spirit of bilateral friendship. 

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Earlier the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said India's position on its boundary with Nepal is well known, consistent, and unambiguous. While talking to media on recent reports on the India-Nepal border, the spokesperson for the Indian Embassy said the government of India's position on the India-Nepal boundary is well known, consistent, and unambiguous. 

After a year and a half of tense relations, India and Nepal were mending. Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was scheduled to visit India for the Vibrant Gujarat summit; however, the conference got called due to the rising COVID-19 cases in India. A new twist has emerged after the recent announcement by PM Modi to widen the road through Lipulekh in Uttarakhand, which is on Indian territory. Nepalese politicians have raised the issue with the Kathmandu government.

Oli's Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and Deuba's Nepali Congress (NC) are staging protests against India's plan of expanding the Dharchula-Lipulekh road, as promised by PM Modi.
 

• BJP government
• India
• Kalapani East
• Kali river
• Linpulekh area
• Nepal
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi