Dasho Pema Wangchuk and Mr. Sudhir Vyas sign the finalised eight strip maps

�In many ways it is a historic moment because it closes a process that started more than 40 years ago,� said the ambassador. �The process which involved surveys, delineations and enormous activities on the ground, in the office and drawing board resulted today in completion of the process of preparing, finalising and signing the strip maps that define the boundary between Bhutan and India.�

The border at tri-junction with China is, however, yet to be finalised.

Bhutan shares borders with the Indian states of Arunachal in the east and Sikkim in the west and Assam and West Bengal in the south.

The ambassador said that there were no changes in the boundary demarcation as it was done with surveys that were conducted over the years. The surveyors from both countries had observed the features and the delineations on the ground after which the process was translated on to the paper.

�This is a mutually agreed boundary between the two countries,� he said, adding that the process entails the erection of boundary pillars and markers along the borders so that they are self evident to anybody.

The survey teams from both countries had also worked out an arrangement to resurvey and replace any pillars that had gone missing over the years and also to provide for its maintenance in the future.

�This line is not a border, it is a marker of friendship between our two countries,� Mr. Sudhir Vyas told Kuensel.

The surveyor general of India, Major General M. Gopal Rao, said that one of the most significant things that came out of the whole process was the signing of the documents, which indicated that there were no differences between the two countries.

He said that the process took long because in a lot of places, pillars were either destroyed requiring re-erection or they were found to be slightly away from description. �It�s a process of discussion and narrowing down the so called areas of different perceptions,� he said.

According to the secretary for international boundaries, Dasho Pema Wangchuk, there were no changes in the boundary maps.

They were, he said, those drawn by the British people when they ruled India, which the Indian government had continued using as a basis for erecting the boundary pillars.

The Indian government, he said, had first sketched the border maps between the two countries when the first five-year plan began in Bhutan in 1961. Drawing the borders and erecting the pillars for the entire boundary between the two countries, which began in 1963 was completed in 1970.

�They had 62 sheets of maps of the boundaries between two countries, excluding the tri-junction, which begins from Jumo, before reaching the Nathula pass in the west and the other in the east in Trashiyangtse dzongkhag,� said Dasho Pema Wangchuk.

In 1971 the Lhengye Zhuntshog approved and signed 29 sheets. �The remaining 33 sheets of map were left without any survey works done probably because the two countries shared an excellent relationship,� said Dasho Pema Wangchuk.

In 2001, triggered by the people in the border town of Jaigaon who complained to the Indian government that Bhutanese people were encroaching into their lands, the two governments decided to work on the boundary lines.

�The boundary pillars had been destroyed because of which, Indian people pushed into the Bhutanese land and otherwise,� said Dasho Pema Wangchuk.

Dasho Pema Wangchuk said that when surveyors from the two countries searched the remnants of the boundary pillars in Jaigaon, one was found beneath a house built by GREF, another beneath a house also in the Indian border, and the third behind the Phuentsholing gate where an ice cream factory stands today.

It was decided to review the 29 maps that were approved in 1971, rebuild the pillars and revise the remaining 33 maps on which works were pending. �In doing so we had to make few corrections and realign the boundary lines in the southern borders,� said Dasho Pema Wangchuk.

�In the north along the mountains where there are no pillars we had to see how many of our people encroached Indian lands and how many of theirs were in ours and accordingly demarcate the borders,� said Dasho Pema Wangchuk.

Meanwhile, talks with China about the boundary demarcation in the tri-junction was progressing well, said the secretary for international boundaries.

�It has to be discussed among Bhutan, India and China,� Dasho Pema Wangchuk told Kuensel. �We only have about 269 square kilometres left to be discussed with the Chinese government.�