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Tatopani border reopens after 21 days



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By Bidur Acharya
Chautara, Feb. 10: The Tatopani border point, a major customs point along the Nepal-China border, came into operation on Tuesday.
Citing the renovation of Miteri Bridge, the Chinese government, on January 20, had closed the Tatopani border for three weeks.
With the completion of the repair works on the bridge, the border has come into operation.
Chief Customs Officer at Tatopani Dry Port and Customs Office Lal Bahadur Khatri said that cargo containers have started to enter Nepal after an elongated gap. According to him, six containers carrying Chinese goods passed through the newly renovated bridge to Nepal today.
Following the devastating earthquake of 2015 and the COVID-19 scare, the operation of Tatopani entry point has been rather sporadic. After remaining closed for about four years since the quake, the Tatopani-Khasa border reopened on May 29, 2019. The border was again closed in January 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chinese side agreed to open the Tatopani-Khasa border in April last year, initially to hand over medicines and medical equipment for the COVID-19 pandemic, but cargo movements have been negligible.
In the current fiscal year, the Tatopani Custom Office has collected taxes worth Rs. 400 million. However, despite having a target to collect Rs, 2.75 billion in taxes, the custom office failed to collect the desired revenue owing to inconsistent movement, and frequent disruption along the border.