Though Nepal and India signed the Koshi Project Agreement in 1954 to this effect, the Nepal government, Nepali landowners and peasants were never compensated for the land they lost and for the damage of crops for over a half century.[break]
Yadav informed lawmakers at a meeting of the parliament´s natural resources and means committee on Friday about the agreements reached with the Indian leaders and officials at the meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Ministerial Commission on Water Resources (JMCWR) on February 15 in New Delhi.
“The Nepali side has not been given compensation as per the bilateral agreement. It is only this time the issue has been positively addressed as India has agreed to provide compensation for acquiring land belonging to Nepal and Nepali citizens,” Yadav said at the parliamentary committee´s meeting. “This is a positive development.”
According to him, Nepal will get compensation for r 7,700 bighas of land.
He said the next bilateral meeting to be held at the level of Joint Committee on Water Resources -- headed by secretaries from the two countries. The next level of meetings will take initiatives for advancing the task in accordance with the agreement reached at the ministerial meeting.
The joint press statement issued after the bilateral meeting on February 15 also stated that JMCWR noted the difficulties faced while carrying out various works of Koshi and Gandak projects and efforts being made to address the same. “JMCWR also noted the concerns of Nepal regarding payment of compensation for land and damage of crops. JMCWR has directed the Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) to look into these problems,” said the statement.
Yadav said JCWR and other existing bilateral mechanisms will take up the matter. “A joint body represented by the two sides will find the present status of the land, available documents related to the land and properties. The concerned district administrations will then make a valuation of the properties,” Yadav told Republica. He described the development as a significant progress in this connection.
A lawmaker from Sunsari district, one of the Koshi-affected areas, Dharma Raj Niraula of CPN-UML cautiously welcomed the bilateral agreement.
He said it should obviously be welcomed only if the Indian side has agreed to compensate the Nepali landowners with a genuine intention to resolve the 50-year old problem.
“But the Indian side might have been trying use the agreement as a lollipop as the locals in the Koshi-affected districts have joined forces against the work for new Koshi high dam and Sunkoshi projects demanding compensation as per the 1954 Koshi treaty,” Niraula told Republica. He said it is too early to comment on the agreement without first properly studying it.
According to him, India had agreed in the 1954 agreement to construct roads, hospitals, schools and supply electricity in the Koshi-affected areas and create employment opportunities for the locals. “But nothing has been done so far,” he said.
Lawmakers from the six Koshi-affected districts -- Sunsari, Saptari, Udaypur, Dhankuta, Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur -- have formed a pressure group to press both the countries to implement the 1954 agreement. “We have stepped up our activities in the recent days and have decided to press the Nepal and Indian side to sincerely work as per the treaty before commencing work for new projects,” a member of the pressure group, Niraula, said.
Lawmaker Mohan Bahadur Khatri from Udaypur said at the committee meeting that the locals are prepared to obstruct new projects because they have been cheated in the past. “There is an impression that Nepalis are doomed to suffer due to inundation and erosion and not reap the benefits of such big projects,” said Khatri.
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