India assisting Nepal in setting up Rs 550 crore police academy near Kathmandu

New Delhi: India is helping Nepal set up a national police academy near Kathmandu at a cost of Rs 550 crore which will provide training to 410 Nepalese police officers annually.

The academy at Panauti, 35 kilometres southeast of Kathmandu, will be on the lines of Hyderabad-based Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel NPA, the alma mater for the officers of the Indian Police Service.

The feasibility study for the national police academy (NPA) was done by the NPA, Hyderabad, while India’s Ministry of Home Affairs is doing consultancy service for the project monitoring and quality assurance services.

Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs is the executing agency and coordinating with the government of India-nominated officials in a joint project monitoring committee.

“India is providing Rs 550 crore towards construction of the academy. As of now, 350 police officers from Nepal undergo training in India every year. The new academy in Nepal will cater to the training of 410 Nepalese police officers annually,” an official said.

India provides substantial financial and technical development assistance to Nepal, which is a broad-based programme focusing on creation of infrastructure at the grass-root level, under which various projects have been implemented in the areas of health, water resources, education and rural and community development.

In recent years, India has been assisting Nepal in development of border infrastructure through upgrade of roads in the Terai areas; development of cross-border rail links at Jogbani-Biratnagar, Jaynagar-Bardibas, Nepalgunj Road-Nepalgunj, Nautanwa-Bhairhawa, and New Jalpaigudi-Kakarbhitta; and establishment of integrated check posts at Raxaul-Birgunj, Sunauli-Bhairhawa, Jogbani-Biratnagar, and Nepalgunj Road-Nepalgunj.

India and Nepal share a unique relationship of friendship and cooperation characterised by open borders and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts of kinship and culture.

India shares a 1,751-kilometre-long border with Nepal that touches Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim.