With the onset of monsoon this year, one of the 56 sluice gates of the Kosi has been damaged. On Thursday, a team from Jessop and Company, the Kolkata-based Indian wagon-manufacturing firm, arrived at barrage site in Sunsari district in southern Nepal to inspect the damage.

The Indian authorities said that only Jessop, which built the nearly five-decade-old barrage, can undertake the repair of the damaged sluice gate. The work, according to initial estimates, can cost about Rs.150 million.

Bansal will also pay a courtesy call on the prime minister in Kathmandu and meet Minister for Irrigation Bal Krishna Khand.

The visit coincides with the Asian Development Bank announcing an assistance package worth NRS 150 million for the rehabilitation of nearly 50,000 people from three areas in southern Nepal who lost their homes in last year's flood.