TIKAPUR, Feb 25Kailali district is currently entangled in border disputes at two different locations. The district is facing border disputes with the southern neighbor India at the border points at Tikapur and Dhangadhi.A Nepal-India joint survey team postponed works of the four disputed border pillars located at Khatrola of Tikapur-8 and Fulbari of Dhangadhi-14.

According to the team, there is a need to shift the Khatrola-based pillar number 704/5 and repair Fulbari-based pillars number 742, 742/1, 752/2 and 742/3. All the pillars in Fulbari are almost completely lost.However, pillar shifting and repair works are actually being done in such a way that India encroaches upon Nepal's land, accused the locals. They protested the move, following which all the planned works have been put off, informed Janakraj Bhatta, chief of Nepali group of the joint survey team.“We have stopped works at the disputed areas but the works in non-disputed areas are continuing, said Bhatta.

“We'll try to resolve the disputes with the help of local representatives,” he added.There is a risk that a big portion of Nepali lands belonging to Gaurishankar Community Forest would fall into India if the Fulbari's pillar is rebuilt. Locals have protested the possibility that they may lose the forests that they have been using for years.Likewise, shifting the border pillar of Khatrola also risks giving up a big portion of Nepali land to India, locals claimed. According to them, around 50 bighas of Nepali land along with households of two locals would fall in the Indian territory if the pillar is shifted the way it has been proposed.Houses of Laxmi Koirala and her neighbor Tularam Koirala will fall in India if the proposed pillar shift completes.

Laxmi's lands of around 1.5 bighas will be lost to India, she said.“My family moved here in 1972 when I was just 18. We have seen the pillar since then but the current plan to shift the pillar is a ploy to encroach upon Nepal's land. We should not let it happen,” said Laxmi.Tikapur spokesperson Dirga Thakulla also echoed the same. “The pillar has been there for years.

Now they want to move it. We feel that there is some conspiracy. There really is no alternative to finding the original pillars and construct new pillars based on their original location,” he said.Five main pillars and 13 mid-level pillars along the Nepal-India border are missing in Tikapur alone.

A joint survey team had submitted a report stating that pillars 702/4 and 702/7 were washed away by the Mohana River while the fate of the other pillars remains unknown.Not just the households and land, locals are suspecting that the pillar shift will also cause Nepal's bridge over Mohana River to fall in India's domain. Locals urged the stakeholders to pay attention to technical aspects in order not to be the victim later.

 
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