In three separate public functions held on March 19,2008, Ambassador of India, Shri Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, laid the foundation stones for new buildings of Emergency and Maternity wards of Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital, Rajbiraj and Shree Narendra Memorial Public Secondary School at Boriya - both in district Saptari and for the new school building for Shree Chandra Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Siraha Municipality in district Siraha. These infrastructures are being constructed with grant assistance of NRs.29.70 million, NRs.13.51 million and NRs.28.08 million respectively from Government of India.

Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in Eastern Nepal and provides healthcare services to the people of six districts of Sagarmatha zone. It was shifted from Hanumannagar to Rajbiraj in 1942. The existing infrastructure of the hospital at Rajbiraj was constructed with the assistance of Government of India. The hospital is presently facing acute space constraint to serve the increasing flow of patients. The new double-storied maternity ward and single storey emergency block, each with 30 beds capacity each, being constructed with the Indian assistance will further augment the hospital’s healthcare delivery system to hundreds of thousands of people in that region.

Shree Narendra Memorial Public Secondary School, located in Boriya VDC of Saptari was established in 1979 and upgraded to secondary school in 1983. It provides education from class I to X to more than 800 students. Shree Chandra Madhyamik Vidyalaya located at district headquarter of Siraha, established in 1914 is the oldest school in the eastern Nepal and second oldest in Nepal. The school is providing education to over 1300 students, including over 35% girls. The new infrastructure being constructed with the assistance from GOI including provision of furniture and lab equipment will provide additional space for upgradation of these schools to higher secondary level and meet the needs of their growing number of students.

These projects are being implemented by the concerned District Development Committee, while separate oversight committees with local community participation will monitor the projects for their effective and timely implementation.

Speaking on these occasions, Ambassador Mukherjee underlined the importance of educational and health infrastructure in Nepal's overall national development and expressed the hope that the various development projects being implemented under the India-Nepal Economic Cooperation Programme would make a contribution in that direction. Emphasizing that all energies of the Nepali people and their leaders at present were being directed towards holding the Constituent Assembly elections in a free and fair manner to enable the people of Nepal to decide their own destiny, Ambassador Mukherjee said that the task of developing and providing a better life for the people of Nepal must go side by side, and in this endeavour, as always, India will walk with Nepal at every step.

These are part of eight projects in district Siraha and seven projects in district Saptari undertaken by Government of India in recent years and over all are part of more than 265 large and small projects currently being implemented under the India-Nepal Economic Cooperation Programme in the sectors of education, health, community development and infrastructure covering all the districts of Nepal with an outlay of over NRs. 21.5 billions.