Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday referred to the new connectivity links with the Himalayan country and recalled the “HIT” (Highways, Information ways, and Transways) formula he had proposed for the India-Nepal relations. He also said many important decisions have been taken to make the bilateral partnership super hit in the future.
In press conference in the presence of Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda at Hyderabad House here, PM Modi said transit agreements have been signed today and the two countries have established new rail links to increase physical connectivity.
“I remember, nine years ago, in 2014, I made my first visit to Nepal. At that time, I had given a ‘HIT’ formula for India-Nepal relations – Highways, I-ways, and Trans-ways. I had said that we will establish such contacts between India-Nepal that our borders do not become barriers between us. Today Nepal PM and I have taken many important decisions to make our partnership a super hit in the future,” PM Modi said.
He said the two countries have achieved a lot in many fields in the last nine years and have taken many big decisions during visit of Nepal Prime Minister to strengthen bilateral partnership.
“Transit agreements have been signed today. We have established new rail links to increase physical connectivity. Long term power trade agreement has been established between India and Nepal today. This will give strength to the power sector of our countries. The religious and cultural ties between India and Nepal are very old and strong. To further strengthen this, we have decided that projects related to Ramayana Circuit should be expedited,” he said.
The two prime ministers jointly unveiled the e-plaque of the Kurtha-Bijalpura section of the Railway. Both the Prime Ministers jointly flagged off Indian Railway cargo train from Bathnaha to Nepal Custom yard.
“We will keep working to take our relationship to the height of the Himalayas….and in this spirit, we will solve all the issues, be it boundary issue or any other issue,” PM Modi said.
This is the first bilateral visit abroad by the Prime Minister Prachanda after assuming office in December 2022. He is accompanied by a high-level delegation. India’s development assistance to Nepal is a broad-based programme focusing on creating infrastructure at the grass-roots level.
Various projects have been implemented in the areas of infrastructure, health, water resources, education and rural and community development. Two important integrated checks One at Birgunj (Nepal) and another at Biratnagar (Nepal) have been built with Indian assistance.
India has built several hydroelectric projects in Nepal like Pokhara (1 MW), Trisuli (21 MW), Western Gandak (15 MW), Devighat (14.1 MW) etc. Agreements have been signed between Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Ltd and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for the development and implementation of the 490.2 MW Arun-4 hydropower project.
The project is expected to generate electricity for Nepal, India as well as Bangladesh. The SJVN has a 51 per cent share and the NEA has 49 per cent of the project. Nepal has also extended an invitation to Indian businesses to invest in the West Seti Hydropower Project.
India and Nepal have robust cooperation in the power sector.
Three cross-border transmission lines were completed recently with Government of India’s assistance (400 kV Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar line (2016); 132 kV Kataiya-Kusaha and Raxaul-Parwanipur lines (2017).