A cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar on Thursday decided to entrust the responsibility to the national army, in coordination with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation (MoPIT), as the prolonged blockade by India has resulted in acute shortages of medicines, fuels and other essentials across the country.
But the government's plans to import fuel from the northern neighbor is facing challenges as the 82-kilometer road connecting with China is a trecherous one and various expert teams have said that fuel tankers cannot use it until it is upgraded.
The cabinet meeting took the decision just hours after Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa returned from a three-day visit to India and briefed the meeting about his talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and other Indian leaders.
“The meeting decided to widen the important Rasuwagadhi-Kerung trade route in order to bring the border point into operation throughout the year. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, the Nepal Army and the Department of Roads have been assigned to widen the Galchi-Trisuli-Mailung-Syaphrubesi-Rasuwagadi road to two lanes and blacktop it within two years,” Minister for Information and Communications Sherdhan Rai told reporters while emerging from the meeting.
The meeting also decided to direct the Ministry of Finance and MoPIT to release the necessary budget for completing the construction work within the given time.
“We have also directed all the authorities concerned to cooperate fully with the three authorities in order to complete the construction work within the deadline,” said Minister Rai.
After the Tatopani-Khasa road, an important link between Nepal with China, was severely damaged by the April earthquake, the authorities stated that it may take some time for this route to come back into operation fully and Rasuwagadhi-Kerung was the only route still open between Nepal with China. However, due to the poor infrastructure, Nepal has not found it easy to bring vital supplies by road from China in the face of the Indian blockade.
Minister for General Administration Rekha Sharma said that the cabinet has also decided to carry out a feasibility study to bring the Tatopani-Khasa and Korala, Mustang border points into operation as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the cabinet has transferred three secretaries. Secretary Surya Silwal has been transferred to the Industry Ministry, Jay Mukunda Khanal to Defense and Mohan Krishna Sapkota to the Ministry of Land Reform and Management.
Similarly, the cabinet has directed the Home Ministry to prepare necessary policy to provide compensation to those whose personal property has been damaged in the ongoing protests in the tarai.
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