Two of 16 disappeared border pillars found buried in sand

By Dipak Prasad Gautam,Birgunj, Feb. 11: Two of the 16 border pillars which had disappeared during illegal excavation of sand by the Indian nationals from the Oriya River in Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality of Parsa district have been recovered.

Some of the lost pillars were main while others were sub-pillars. 

According to authorities, the two pillars were found while mining sand from the river. “After the two pillars were found in Ward No. 1 of Jagarnathpur, a meeting of the District Security Committee was held on Thursday to take further steps,” said Bhimkanta Paudel, assistant Chief District Officer of Parsa.

The meeting was held to take decisions regarding the excavation in the river and to request the Indian authorities for support on the issue.

According to Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality chairman Shree Kanta Yadav, a main pillar numbered 422 was found on Sunday and a sub-pillar numbered 422/1 was found on Thursday.

After the disappeared pillars started appearing, a team comprising Chief District Officer Hiralal Regmi,  officers from the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and local representatives had inspected the river.

“The Indian nationals are still excavating sand from the river within their territory. However, the excavation is restricted on Nepal’s side. Pillars were also recovered from the places where the Indian nationals are now excavating sand. It shows that we need to take strict steps to control encroaching of our border and resources,” chairman Yadav told The Rising Nepal.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of APF Suman Thapaliya informed that they were not eligible to decide whether the point where the pillars have been recovered is Nepali territory. 

“We have informed the situation to the centre. We have also restricted sand excavation in the nearby areas,” said Thapaliya.

Nepali and Indian nationals often clash over border issues while excavating riverbed materials. Since 16 border pillars had gone missing, the Indian nationals were excavating sand from Nepali territory claiming that the territory is in India.