A fresh census will be taken at all the seven camps in eastern Nepal where Bhutanese refugees are languishing.

The census will start from November 15 and will include camps in both Jhapa and Morang district in eastern Nepal.

The Home Ministry and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will be cooperating in this effort.

The UNHCR had been pointing out the need for fresh census to determine the exact number and status of Bhutanese refugees. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees languishing in those camps for the past 15 years.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Bhutanese leaders met with deputy prime minister and foreign minister KP Oli at the latter’s office on Thursday. The delegation led by Thinley Penjore, president of National Front for Democracy, presented a memo to the minister urging him to include India in the forthcoming dialogue with Bhutan.

It is reported that ministerial-level talks between Nepal and Bhutan could take place sometime in the third week of November. Furthermore, Oli is also scheduled to pay a five-day visit to New Delhi beginning November 5.

During his meeting with the Bhutanese delegation, Oli informed that Bhutanese government has expressed its dissatisfaction over the remarks made by him at the UN General Assembly last month. Oli said Bhutanese prime minister Khandu Wangchuk has written to him expressing dissatisfaction over his remarks that the refugee problem was primarily ‘a problem between Bhutanese government and its people while Nepal was involved only to provide humanitarian assistance (to the refugees).’