India serious about resolving Madhesi problem, says Nepal Minister

Nepals Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Ram Chandra Poudel, who was recently in India, has said that New Delhi is very serious about resolving the ongoing unrest in the Terai region.

Kathmandu, Dec.28 : Nepal's Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Ram Chandra Poudel, who was recently in India, has said that New Delhi is "very serious" about resolving the ongoing unrest in the Terai region.

"India is very serious towards helping Nepal solve the problems seen in Madhes," Poudel told reporters here after his return from New Delhi on Thursday, where he was on a three-day visit.

He said that during his stay in India, he met and interacted with top Indian leaders and officials and discussed the ongoing peace process in Nepal, the Terai unrest and the rising crimes along the Nepal-India border.

Saying that Indian leaders were delighted by the agreement the seven parties reached recently which rejuvenated the stalled peace process, Poudel said that the Indian leaders now want the Constituent Assembly election to take place at the earliest possible and promised all possible cooperation for holding it smoothly.

During his stay in India Poudel separately met with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Home Minister Shivaraj Patil including various other party leaders and high level government officials, the nepal news reported.

Meanwhile, Nepal's Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan has said that the coalition government cannot resolve Nepal-India border disputes unless it becomes a common agenda of the seven-party alliance (SPA).

Answering questions raised parliamentarians at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for International Relations on Thursday, Pradhan clarified, "This is not an issue that can be resolved by this interim government alone."

The committee thereafter issued directives to the government to forge a national consensus for resolving disputes over Nepal-India border, said the secretary of the committee, Jay Narayan Nepal.

"The meeting of the committee decides to issue a directive to the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to immediately resolve border disputes by forging a national consensus of all political parties," said the committee.

Pradhan also informed the committee that she has talked to her Indian counterpart and briefed Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala about the border dispute. The PM has pledged to talk to his Indian counterpart regarding the matter, she said.

During the meeting Director General of the Survey Department Toya Nath Baral informed that the department has prepared a map of the border except for Susta and Kalapani areas.

Members of the committee, chief whips of all parliamentary parties and parliamentarians concerned were present during the meeting.

ANI