Nepali village encroached on, controlled by China for six decades; no protest by Kathmandu

Kathmandu [Nepal]: Due to the gross negligence of the Nepal government, a village in Gorkha in the mid-western part of the country has been under Chinese control for six decades. Rui Gaun is administered by China which claims it to be part of so-called TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region), a local media report said.
Rui Gaun, which falls in Gorkha district, has about 72 households and has been encroached on by China and is under its control, according to a report published in Annapurna Post, a vernacular daily.
Nepal government has included the territory in its map but the administration is not in its hands.
China has also moved the pillars to the Nepali side to validate the encroachment, the report said.
The Land Revenue Office, Gorkha, has a record of revenues that were collected from the inhabitants of Rui Guan village, which clearly show that the encroached territory is Nepali.
"The details of the revenues paid by the inhabitants of the village are still safe in the Land Revenue Office, in File No.1," said Thakur Khanal, an official at the Land Revenue Office, according to the report.
The area has never been lost to China in war nor is any special agreement between the two countries and the present state is a result of the government's utter negligence at the time of fixing the pillars.
Surveyors from both the countries assigned to mark the pillars to separate the lands between Nepal and China in 1960 intentionally erected pillar number 35 separating Rui Gaun and Samdo and letting the whole village fall under Chinese Control.
"Many people who did not like the area being included in Tibet at that time fled to Samdo overnight and brought 1,000-1,200 old historical documents and artefacts," Bir Bahadur Lama, the Ward Chairperson of Chumanubri Rural Municipality, Ward No.1, was quoted as saying.
It takes about six hours on foot to reach Rui from Samdo area. After the erection of Pillar No. 35, officially encroaching on the Nepali land, China now has erected multiple pillars marking the border to Chekampar.
Turning a blind eye to the encroachment, Gandaki Provincial Government has been attempting to open a trade route with China through the northern side of Gorkha.
In order to implement the plan, the provincial government had allocated Rs 40 million in the current fiscal year but the work has not started.
Last year, Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Ramsharan Basnet went on observation visit to the area. Basnet also took pictures along the Pillar number 35 accompanied by Chinese officials and forces.
Nepal has not made any survey about the border with China since 1963. Last year, a committee was formed to study border issues with India and China. The team related to the border with India was given three months while the team dealing with China was not specified any time frame. (ANI)

Raj Kantak

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