Kathmandu, November 23:

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee has said that the perception that criminal activities in the Tarai are aggravated by criminal elements from India is ‘totally misplaced.’

The ambassador said this while answering questions in Bhojpur yesterday regarding reports that the Tarai situation is being intensified by criminal elements from across the border and what India was doing to stop them.

A press release issued by the Indian embassy quoted Mukherjee as saying: “The government of India and the governments of the Indian states concerned cooperate actively with Nepali authorities in controlling criminal activities across the open Indo-Nepal border. District administrations on both sides of the border remain regularly in touch in this regard.”

The ambassador further said that a meeting of home secretaries of the two sides, held in September, at India’s initiative “decided to further strengthen this cooperation and take a number of steps, especially in view of the constituent assembly polls which were then impending.”

While clarifying the position of India on this regard, the release further quoted the ambassador as saying that the Tarai problem is a problem that will have to be dealt with by the government of Nepal because “the perpetrators are mostly Nepalis and must be dealt with accordingly.”

Mukherjee said: “India has already agreed to provide over 1,000 vehicles and several thousand communication sets to increase the capacity of Nepal Police.”