‘Missing’ border pillars retrieved from Oriya River

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: Two border pillars reported to be missing from the Nepal-India border in Parsa have been retrieved from the Oriya River at Pipardari of  Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality-1 of the district.

Following the recovery of the border pillars, a meeting of the District Coordination Committee has been summoned for today. And, the District Security Committee, Parsa, has already urged the Indian side to stop sand extraction from the river. The Indian side has handed contracts for the sand collection from the river.

The objects were found during sand mining in the river, increasing the issue of geographical dispute in regard with the river area. According to Armed Police Force Superintendent of Police Suman Thapaliya, the news about the recovery of border pillars from the river needed to be notified to higher authorities, bearing in mind its gravity. Sand mining in the river has been suspended for the time being.  

Four days ago, the main border pillar with number 422 was recovered from the same river. Similarly, an auxiliary border pillar numbered 422/1 was found from the river recently, said Thapaliya. 

Following the finding of border pillars lately, a team led by Chief District Officer Hiralal Regmi including chief of security agencies, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, and the local government carried out a field inspection of the area. Preparations were underway to hold a dialogue with the sides concerned on the matter, said CDO Regmi. 

The Indian side is reported to have been extracting river materials on a daily basis for many years, said Shree Kanta Yadav, chair of Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality, while stressing the need for the respective sector to take necessary steps to this effect. “Indian contractors extract river materials from the river unopposed and take them to India on tractors during the night and disputes have surfaced time and again when local people tried to stop this,” he said. 

(RSS)