Nepal minister says India's `interference' causing inundation in country

Nepal Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on Monday said construction activities by India along the border have blocked the flow of water and resulted in inundation of various places in the country`s south.

India and Nepal are both facing the problem of inundation during monsoon season and hundreds of lives have been lost in the past.

Bihar Water Resources Minister had said last month that Nepal had stopped all repair work of river embankments in Bihar on the India-Nepal border by erecting barriers and effectively putting a stop to work done by India to prevent flooding of its low-lying areas.

Thapa, who was answering questions of members at a parliamentary meeting earlier today, blamed India for constructing structures which, he claimed, blocked the flow of water to India and inundated Nepali lands.

"It is interference rather than a political move of India against Nepal," he said.

Thapa said some diplomatic steps undertaken by the Nepal government to solve but said it did not work out well.

"Agreements over it were signed at the time of Indian Prime Minister`s Visit to Nepal but all of them are yet to be implemented," he said members of the parliamentary committee also spoke on the issue.

At least 60 people have died while 41 have gone missing in floods and landslides in the last four days in various parts of Nepal. Myagdi district of Western Nepal is the worst affected with 27 deaths.