Officials engaged in the ongoing survey of the Indo-Nepal international border have said that the 1,751 km long border could change as several areas that were left out during the previous mapping will be added after a re-demarcation process. The officials engaged in the survey informed that the earlier mapping, which was done before the British rule was not discernable since some areas were left out.
A bilateral boundary working group headed by the respective surveyor generals of both the countries came together to re-demarcate the boundary. A survey was conducted between 1980-2007 for this reason. Boundary strip maps were created after the survey and they are currently being replicated on the ground.
The ground demarcation approved by the respective country officials will ensure the restoration of existing pillars and constructing new ones wherever the boundary was not marked. There were nearly 4,000 pillars, most of which were damaged disappeared over the decades.
Fives Indian states – Uttarakhand (263km), Uttar Pradesh (560km), Bihar (729km), West Bengal (100km) and Sikkim (99km) share a land border with Nepal. Both India and Nepal share an open border that is not fenced unlike its borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The map for demarcation on 98 percent of the length has been approved. But there are still some political issues over the remaining 2 percent of the border length on which the Union ministry of external affairs is in talks with Nepal. Once the government resolves the status of the 2 percent of the border area, the final agreement would be signed.