By Our Correspondent, Bhairahawa, Oct. 3: The Belahiya checkpoint along the Nepal-India border in Bhairahawa has come into operation since Sunday.

The checkpoint, which has remained shut since March 23, 2020, because of the coronavirus outbreak in India, has reopened allowing the vehicles to pass through the checkpoint.

Despite a decision of a Cabinet meeting held on September 21, 2021, to open the checkpoint, it has remained closed citing that the DAO had not received a formal letter from the Federal government.

Chief District Officer of Rupandehi Rishi Ram Tiwari said that the checkpoint was opened immediately after the DAO received the letter regarding the Cabinet decision.

Vehicles from both Nepal and India started moving smoothly across the border from today. However, travelers and tourists coming to Nepal have to abide by health standards.

CDO Tiwari said that a general health check-up would be conducted at the border for Nepali passengers and an antigen test would be conducted if there was any person showing symptoms similar to COVID-19.

He said that those who tested positive for the virus in antigen tests will be managed according to the results of the PCR test.

Passengers and tourists coming to Nepal from India can easily enter by filling up a form after showing a PRC test report received within 72 hours.

 Full vaccination is not mandatory for the Indian nationals at the border. But in the case of the tourists from the third country, a 72-hour PCR report and documents showing that they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are also required, Tiwari said.