India and Nepal yesterday decided to fast forward the setting up of the Pancheshwar Development Authority for the implementation of the long-pending Pancheshwar multipurpose hydel project on the Mahakali river. The Nepal-India Joint Ministerial-Level Commission on Water Resources, which met for the first time, also explored the possibility of duty-free movement of equipment to Nepal for the repair work at the Gandak project. It also recommended maintenance of 15-km stretch of the eastern Kosi embankment, presently maintained by Nepal, to be taken up by India. The meeting, held jointly by Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Nepalese Minister for Energy Posta Bahadur Bogati, also discussed the issue of DPR of the Saptakosi High Dam in Nepal, required to bring permanent solution to Kosi floods and stabilise benefits from the Kosi barrage. A breach in the Kosi embankment had caused major floods in Bihar in 2008. Bansal said the Bihar Government had also raised the issue of maintenance of Kosi embankments in a wildlife sanctuary located in Nepal and the two sides decided to look into the matter. While Nepal has already prepared terms of reference for the proposed 6000-MW Pancheshwar project, India is yet to finalise its draft. Bansal said there were some issues behind the delay, but the government was now expediting it. The Pancheshwar dam project will bring irrigation to Uttarakhand and Bihar, and power to northern grid. The cost of implementing Pancheshwar project, estimated at about Rs 17,000 crore in 2002, has now escalated to over Rs 30,000 crore.