Sudurpaschim, April 7: The Indian side has expressed its commitment to collaborate with the Nepal in curbing the cross-border drug trafficking. The Indian officials made this commitment in the ‘border coordination’ meeting of local administration chiefs of the Nepal-India bordering districts. The meeting was held at Paliya, Lakhimpur (Khiri) District of Uttar Pradesh in India on Saturday.
“The Indian side has expressed its commitment to lend support in curbing the drug trafficking taking place in the border areas,” said Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, the Chief District Officer of Kailali district, who participated in the meeting. Narcotic substances and illicit drugs are smuggled into the bordering districts including Kailali from the Indian side due to the open border. Although police have intensified the crackdown on drug smuggling and abuse, the problem still persists.
In the meeting convened in view of the Lok Sabha elections taking place after some weeks in India, the Nepali side urged the Indian authorities to stop the mistreatment of Nepalis by the Indian security personnel at the border region.
“I raised the issue of mistreatment on the border areas of Nepalis at the hands of the Indian security persons. The Indian side made commitment to stop this,” he said, adding that the meeting has agreed to seal the border 72 hours before the election in India, to keep a watch to prevent any untoward activities on the border during the election period and to collaborate in curbing smuggling of forest products, wildlife parts and commercial goods.
Similarly, the administration officials have pledged to share information at the lowest level of the police to prevent cross-border criminal activities.
The Nepali side comprised of Mishra, Chief District Officer of Kanchanpur, Gopal Kumar Adhikari, the Chiefs of Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and National Investigation Department in both the districts and the Chiefs of the Kailali Customs Office and the Division Forest Office.
The Indian side comprised of District Magistrate of Lakhimpur (Khiri) District, Mahendra Bahadur Singh, the Assistant District Magistrate, the Chief of the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB), the border security force, among other officials.
