By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : India celebrated its 62nd Republic Day in Nepal Wednesday by wishing for diversified India-Nepal cooperation in the days to come.
“India remains steadfast in its commitment to extend assistance for Nepal’s economic development and institutionalisation of multi-party democracy,” the Indian ambassador to Nepal, Rakesh Sood, said.
“It is our wish that India-Nepal cooperation is further diversified in the coming years for mutual benefit.”
The highlights of the India-Nepal economic cooperation programme are over 400 development projects running through all 75 districts of Nepal at an outlay of NRS 5,800 crore, over NRS 1,700 crore disbursed annually as pension to Nepali ex-servicemen who fought for the Indian Army, and around 1,800 scholarships provided to Nepali students each year.
The major ongoing projects include developing railway infrastructure at five points on the India-Nepal border, upgrading four border checkposts at a cost of over NRS 390 crore, building roads in the Terai plains in southern Nepal that will benefit over 8 million people, and gifting a 200-bed emergency and trauma centre in Kathmandu.
In future, India has further committed building an auditorium in southern Nepal at a cost of NRS 40 crore, a polytechnic in central Nepal, a science learning centre and an eye hospital.