PATNA: As the Nepal Parliament passed the bill incorporating three Indian territories as theirs, Nepal has now tried to stop the Bihar Government from carrying out embankment-related work on the border, claiming the area as part of its territory. Bihar shares a 729km-long international border with Nepal.

Amid border row, Nepal’s National Assembly on Thursday, June 18 unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Bill to update the country's political and administrative map incorporating three Indian territories - Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. India has termed as untenable the "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims by Nepal.

According to media reports, officials from the Water Resources Department (WRD) were taken by surprise when Nepalese authorities prevented carrying out fortification of an embankment on Lal Bakey River in the Dhaka block of east Chamaparan district in Bihar. The area claimed by Nepal is about 45km from Motihari town, headquarters of the east Champaran district.

Authorities said the WRD of Government of Bihar had constructed the embankment long back over the river, which originates from the Himalayan region of Nepal, and had been carrying out fortification work every year ahead of the monsoon, but they never faced such objection from Nepal.

Reports said, initially, the authorities tried to sort out the issue at the local level, but failed. The Bihar authorities have now reported the matter to the federal Home Ministry, Government of Bihar and the Indian Embassy in Nepal.

“Nepal has stopped embankment-related work in Indian territory near the border. We have reported the matter to both, the Bihar government as well as the Union Government. We hope to resolve the issue soon,” east Champaran district magistrate Shirshat Kapil Ashok was quoted saying by a media house.

“Fortification of embankment in 400 metres, out of a 2.5km-long stretch, was not done. The WRD department has built the embankment till the last point of the border, but now Nepalese authorities are raising objections over it,” the district magistrate told the media on Saturday.

The district magistrate has also apprised the Geological Survey of India of the entire situation, urging the latter to resolve the dispute at the earliest so that the pending embankment work can be completed soon.

The DM also held talks with his Nepalese counterpart, but the matter remains unresolved, he said.