With the issue of fake currency notes from Nepal resurfacing once again, India is looking forward to a meeting of the Home Secretaries from both sides to formulate a joint strategy to deal with the menace.
Though a final date for the meeting is yet to be decided, it most probably would take place in the last week of September, said sources.
It is learnt that India had expressed its concern over the growing problem of circulation of fake currency notes to Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal during his visit to Delhi in August.
During the meetings between Madhav Kumar Nepal and the Indian leadership and earlier between Nepalese Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, discussions had revolved around various issues including circulation of fake currency notes in India via Nepal.
Sources said New Delhi has been reassured by the Nepalese leadership that their soil will not be allowed to be used for any anti-India activity. However, a strategy will be worked out by the Home Secretaries in their meeting.
Intelligence inputs suggest that the porous 1,751-km-long Indo-Nepal border is being used to route counterfeit currency to India. Fresh reports suggest the involvement of Nepal’s royal family members in the fake currency racket, although it is yet to be substantiated.
“Nepal and India share a lot of common interests. We are friendly countries. We have an open border and we have spoken about security and how we can mutually work for proper security on the border,” Sujata Koirala had told reporters after meeting Chidambaram.
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