India-Nepal Joint Working Group Move Forward with Vehicle Permits, New Bus Routes
1 August 2015
The India-Nepal Cross Border Transport Facilitation Joint Working Group under the bilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement discussed measures to facilitate movement of passenger vehicles across the India-Nepal border on its first meeting held in New Delhi on 16-17 July 2015.
A web-based solution to facilitate movement of vehicles across the India-Nepal border, under this Motor Vehicle Agreement, is one of the Joint Working Group's key recommendations. The National Informatics Centre (NIC), the IT-solution provider of the Government of India, will design the portal which will issue, monitor, and verify permits for non-scheduled and personal passenger vehicles, particularly for people based in remote areas.
The NIC will present the online portal to the Government of Nepal for consideration, suggestion and concurrence. This will be tested on a pilot basis at Birgunj-Raxaul and Bhairahawa-Sunauli border points, and will be used alongside existing manual processes of permit issuance. The Government of India and the Government of Nepal agreed to rationalize the permit fee, Customs duty, and bank guarantee for different categories of vehicles. The Government of India will also install free WiFi services and a tracking system on the Delhi-Kathmandu route.
The Joint Working Group also recommended adding four new bus routes to improve connectivity and seamless movement between India and Nepal, including: Kathmandu-Patna-Bodhgaya; Mahendranagar-New Delhi; Siliguri-Kakarbhitta-Kathmandu; and Janakpur-Patna. Currently, regular bus services are operational along Kathmandu-New Delhi and Kathmandu-Varanasi. The new routes will be implemented after discussion and upon consent of stakeholders on both sides.
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