The first meeting of India-Nepal Cross Border Transport Facilitation Joint Working Group under the Motor Vehicle Agreement for regulation of passenger vehicular traffic between the two countries was held at New Delhi on 16-17 July, 2015.

An eight-member delegation led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure & Transport, Government of Nepal held discussions with their counterpart Indian delegation led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India. During the meeting measures to facilitate movement of passenger vehicles across the India-Nepal border were discussed and key recommendations were made.   

According to Indian Embassty,it was decided that in order to facilitate movement of vehicles across India-Nepal border, National Informatics Centre (NIC), the IT-solution provider of the Government of India, would design a web-based solution for issue of online permits under the India-Nepal bilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement. This web-based solution would be developed for issue, monitoring and verification of permits for non-scheduled and personal passenger vehicles. The new online vehicle permit system, after being developed by NIC, would be demonstrated to the Government of Nepal for their consideration, suggestion and concurrence.

The new system would facilitate procurement of vehicle permit for people based in far-flung and remote areas.   After concurrence by both sides, the web-based portal for issue of vehicle permits would be tested on a pilot basis at Birgunj-Raxaul and Bhairahawa-Sunauli border points. The existing manual and traditional system for issue of vehicle permits adopted by both countries would continue simultaneously. Both sides agreed for rationalizing the permit fee, customs duty and bank guarantee for different categories of vehicles. Indian side informed that free WiFi service and tracking system has been installed on the Delhi-Kathmandu route.

JWG has recommended that Regular Bus Services between India and Nepal may be started at four new routes viz. Kathmandu-Patna-Bodhgaya, Mahendranagar-New Delhi, Siliguri-Kakarbhitta-Kathmandu and Janakpur-Patna. Regular bus services between Kathmandu-New Delhi and Kathmandu-Varanasi are already operational. Once the new routes are made functional these would improve connectivity and seamless movement between Nepal and the border states of India i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttarakhand. The new routes would be made operational after discussion and consent of all stakeholders on both sides.