Kathmandu, Nov 11 (PTI) Nepali officials on Thursday said they are "trying to contact'' their Indian counterparts to conduct the national census in the territorially disputed areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

Nepal's Cabinet in May last year endorsed a new political map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory, amidst a border dispute with India.

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India reacted sharply, calling it a "unilateral act" and cautioning Kathmandu that such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it. India too had published a new map in November 2019 showing the areas as its territories.

"We are trying to contact Indian authorities through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct the census in those three areas," Director General of Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal (CBS), Nabin Lal Shrestha said during a press meet on the beginning of the census count.

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Shrestha said he plans to use satellite technology to ease the process of collecting information from the disputed areas.

Information Officer, CBS, Nepal, Tirtha Chaulagai said: "We need permission from the Indian security personnel deployed there to enter the area for collecting data."

We are making efforts through diplomatic channels for this purpose, he added.

There are about 700 to 800 people residing in the five villages which lie in the disputed area, according to Chaulagai.

He said the houses there have been listed for the census count.

Meanwhile, the CBS officially started the census count on Thursday; first by collecting the details of President Bidya Devi Bhandari, followed by the survey of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Officials have appealed to all persons to participate in the once-in-a decade count. This is Nepal's 12th National Census.

During the 15-day count concluding on November 25, enumerators will make home visits of all the people.

The CBS has engaged 44,000 enumerators and 8,500 supervisors for the task. Census offices have been set up in all 77 districts of the country.

The enumerators will collect responses to a total of 80 questions including data on disability, hemophilia, autism, mother tongue, religion, immigration, and foreign employment for the purpose of social, economic, educational, health and community development at the local-level, according to an official release.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)