Krishna Chaudhary of Hekuli-4, Mouli, who was injured in the clash with locals of Hekuli-5, Saloura on Thursday, died Friday night. Nine other persons from Mouli who were also injured in the incident, however, are out of danger.[break]
Area Police Post, Heluki said there have been frequent clashes between the locals of the two villages in the past but none had resulted in the loss of life. The dispute has been running for generations with confrontations almost every year.
Saloura lies upstream while Mouli is a little downstream. The locals of Saloura have always refused to release water for Mouli before irrigating their land while those from Mouli have staked ancestral claim on the canal.
The lack of adequate rainfall in recent years has made matters worse. Police said the locals had become restless to wait for their turn. A police team led by inspector Jeevan Khadka was on the spot to resolve the issue even on Thursday.
“We were trying to convince them to reach an agreement,” Khadka said. “But they started fighting which resulted in the loss of life.” He said police have repeatedly tried to resolve the issue but to no avail. “They have never been willing to resolve the issue. When we called them for meetings, people of one or the other village would not show up,” he stated.
Chaudhary, 40, had sustained head injuries in the clash. He was taken to the Rapti Zonal Hospital in Tulsipur Thursday night for treatment and was referred to Kathmandu for further treatment. Police said Chaudhary died while undergoing treatment in Kathmandu.
Police have taken seven persons of Saloura under control for attacking Chaudhary and will lodge a murder case against them. Meanwhile, there is a sense of terror among the locals of two villages following Chaudhary´s death. Security in the area has been beefed up in the area to avert further violence.
Police, however, hope that the death may also spur the locals to reach an agreement. “They may have realized that the dispute only lead to loss for both sides. A few of them have said they will resolve the issue,” Khadka said.
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