India did not agree to the proposal prioritized by Nepal during the official meeting held on Thursday between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' who arrived in New Delhi on a four-day official visit on Wednesday and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Nepal had requested additional air routes from Bhairahawa and Mahendranagar for Gautam Buddha International Airport and Pokhara International Airport, respectively.
On the other hand, according to the Mahakali Treaty signed 26 years ago, there was no agreement with India to implement the Pancheshwar multi-purpose project.
Prime Minister Prachanda and Modi held formal talks on various issues of bilateral interest at Hyderabad House on Thursday morning.
Although the two Prime Ministers had an agreement on energy, transportation, cross-border rail-way, petroleum pipeline and electricity sale from Nepal to Bangladesh, there was only a discussion on air route permit and Pancheshwar project.
Prime Minister Dahal said in a joint press conference held at Hyderabad House that there was only a discussion between the two Prime Ministers on the additional air route after the Indian side did not agree.
Prachanda said, 'We also discussed another issue of Nepal's interest, air route permission. We have received a positive response from India.
Earlier, India did not even allow the use of ILS (Instrumental Landing System) system at Gautam Buddha International Airport citing security reasons.
But Prachanda has now revealed in his speech that India has agreed to use ILS.
ILS is a system that automatically guides aircraft to land even during cloudy weather.
The ILS system was essential for Gautam Buddha International Airport as the weather around Bhairahawa is very dense and cloudy in winter.
Even though it is through the ILS system, it should be considered that Nepal has received the positive goodwill of India for the operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport from this visit of Prime Minister Dahal.
Currently, there is only one Simara entry point on Nepal's air route. Planes coming from the western route have to go to Pokhara and Gautam Buddha International Airport, through Simara.
When entering Nepal through Simra, the planes are stuck in air traffic for a long time and the fuel consumption is high, so the companies have not shown interest in flying to Pokhara and Bhairahawa.
A Nepali official who participated in the talks informed that the Indian officials are arguing that they cannot provide an air route due to security reasons, stating that they have a military base on the Gorakhpur line near Bhairahwa.
Similarly, even though the DPR of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project has been prepared according to the Mahakali Treaty, no agreement has been reached between Nepal and India for its implementation yet.
However, in the joint address, Prime Minister Prachanda said that he discussed the Pancheshwar project with his Indian counterpart Modi so that an agreement can be reached within the next three months.
Pancheshwar project has multi-purpose projects like power, irrigation and flood control with a capacity of 4,800 megawatts.
Both the Prime Ministers did not utter a single word in their speech regarding the report of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) prepared by both countries for the revision and modification of the unequal treaties between Nepal and India.
An expert group of four each from both Nepal and India has already prepared the report in June 2018. In terms of submitting the report to the Prime Ministers of both countries, Modi has not yet taken the time to receive the EPG report.
An agreement has been reached with India to sell 10,000 megawatts of electricity in the Indian open market in 10 years.
However, Nepal wanted a 25-year energy deal. A government official who participated in the talks informed that only 10 years of agreement was reached because India disagreed with the 25-year-long proposal floated by Nepal.
