Lalu’s big think

While Chidambaram has reasons to be pleased, Railway Minister Lalu Yadav might want to check out what the Chinese Railways are up to in Nepal which shares a long border with Bihar.

After it completed the rail link to Lhasa a couple of years ago, Beijing has repeatedly signaled its interest in extending it up to the Nepal border. Now there are indications that China is ready to push the line right into the Kathmandu valley.

An assistant foreign minister, He Yafei, who is visiting Nepal this week, has reportedly reaffirmed Beijing’s interest in the Kathmandu rail link. The minister has also promised to make permanent arrangements for the supply of petroleum products to Nepal from China. Until now India has been the sole supplier of fuel to land-locked Nepal.

When these two projects go through, China would have neutralised India’s geographic advantages in Nepal. Rather than oppose these projects, India should expedite its own plans to build oil pipelines into Nepal and deepen the Indian rail network’s presence in our northern neighbour.

Lalu has enough political clout to get New Delhi to make an historic offer on building a rail link to Kathmandu and beyond. He could even propose joining up with the Chinese rail network on Nepal’s border. That should connect the markets of north India and west China and position Nepal as a transit zone.

A rail line connecting northern India with Kathmandu has been around for a long time. Rail Bhavan’s babus, however, have had no stomach for it. After China’s breathtaking Lhasa line and India’s own spectacular rail road to Srinagar, under construction, why should an Indian rail line to Kathmandu be mission impossible?

... contd.