India's gift to Nepal: PM Modi to hand over 400-bed Pashupatinath dharamshala

PM Modi will also hold a bilateral meeting with his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli.

Reuters photo

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the much-awaited Pashupatinath Dharamshala on Friday. The 400-bed dharamshala – a rest house for travellers – has been funded by India and would be handed over to Pashupati Area Development Trust. 

PM Modi along with his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli will inaugurate the Nepal Bharat Maitri Dharmashala at the Pashupatinath temple complex between 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm.

The two leaders will also hold bilateral meeting later in the day.

The Prime Minister is currently attending the two-day Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit that began on Thursday.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the summit, the Prime Minister said that India is committed to work with the BIMSTEC member states in the critical sector and to combat the menace of terrorism and drug trafficking.

"I believe that there is a big opportunity for Connectivity - trade connectivity, economic connectivity, transport connectivity, digital connectivity, and people-to-people connectivity," he said.

"There is no country in the region which has not suffered from terrorism and trans-national crimes such as drug trafficking linked to networks of terrorism. 

"This is not a law and order problem of one country. We must unite to tackle these problems," he said.

The seven nations participating in the BIMSTEC are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal. The grouping accounts for 22 per cent of the global population and has a combined gross domestic product of $ 2.8 trillion. The main objective of the summit is technical and economic cooperation among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries around the Bay of Bengal. India has been giving BIMSTEC more importance since the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been affected by the non-cooperation of Pakistan on issues like connectivity and counter-terrorism.

PM Modi also presented BIMSTEC leaders unique gifts from the northeastern states.  The gifts comprised stoles and shawls depicting traditional motifs from the northeastern states and the Kantha embroidery of West Bengal, sources said.

With agency inputs