China encroaching Nepal's land: Survey
China is encroaching into Nepal's land through an ongoing road expansion project in Tibet, Nepal's Survey Department has said.
Nepali news portal Khabarhub cited a detailed report issued by the department which said that around 36 hectors of land in four different districts, including Sankhuwasabha, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchowk and Humla, which touch the Chinese border, has been encroached upon. A data revealed that around six hectors of land in the Bhagdare River in the Humla district and four hectors of land in Karnali district have been encroached upon that now falls in Tibet's Furang area. Similarly, around six hectares of Nepali land in Sanjen River and Jambhu Khola of Rasuwa, have also fallen into Kerung in southern Tibet.
China has also encroached more than 10 hectares of land in Sindhupalchowk district's Bhotekoshi and Kharanekhola areas those are now under Nyalam area of Tibet, the report said.
In Sankhuwasabha, nine hectors of land have been encroached due to the road expansion in the autonomous region of Tibet where areas around Kamukhola, Arun River and Sumjung River now has fallen into Tingisyan County area.
With this, the survey data further divulged that some places near the Arun Khola, Kamu Khola and Sumjung now also fallen into Tibet's Tingisyan area.
According to the ministry's data, Nepal would lose several hundred hectares of land.
The survey was released following a tense situation between India and Nepal over a new map showing Kalapani in Uttarakhand.
However, after a strong objection by the Nepali government, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that the new political map released by India after bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir accurately depicts its sovereign territory and did not revise its boundary with Nepal in any manner.
Responding to a question on the same, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the boundary delineation with Nepal is ongoing under the existing mechanism and New Delhi is committed to finding a solution on the matter through dialogue in the spirit of the close and friendly bilateral relations between the two countries.