Nepal new map bill gets full support in Upper House, border issue escalates

New Delhi : The upper house of parliament in Nepal also cleared the new map bill that claims the disputed territory of Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh.

The voting completed in favour of the new map that grants constitutional status to the map, which was unveiled after the Kalapani territorial dispute intensified in May.

Nepal Communist Party’s Deputy Chief of Foreign Affairs Bishnu Rijal said the Bill would now be forwarded to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari for her signature, following which the amendment would become part of the Constitution.

Soon after the completion of process, the new map will be part of the national emblem of Nepal. The Parliament secretariat had started using the revised map in all its official letterheads and posters.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had recently said that the amendment amounts to “artificial enlargement of claims that are not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable”.

The ties between the two countries came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.