The movement across the India-Nepal border through land routes will remain closed for three days from Thursday as parliamentary elections will be held in the neighbouring country on November 20.

“The movement of vehicles and people will remain closed on the border routes from November 17 to November 20 because of elections in Nepal,” said an official of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) posted at Panitanki that is on the India-Nepal border and located around 30km from Siliguri.

Panitanki is on the bank of the Mechi river in Darjeeling district. The river marks the international boundary and beyond it is Kakarvitta in Nepal. India and Nepal share a total border of 1,850km.

Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and Sikkim share the border with Nepal.

Border arrest

A Bangladeshi was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly trying to India illegally.

The arrest was made by the 176 battalions of the Border Security Force (BSF) at Haptiagach border outpost on the Bangladesh frontier in North Dinajpur district.

Md Salim, a resident of Panchagarh district of Bangladesh, was handed over to Chopra police.

In another case, a resident of Khata Khuwa Belchori near Islampur in North Dinajpur was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly trying to smuggle cough syrup into Bangladesh.

Rafijuddin was nabbed by the Adhoc NB-IV battalion of the BSF posted at Kumargach border outpost.

Twenty bottles of cough syrup were seized from him. Rafijuddin was handed over to the police.