Pokhariya, February 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 of the district.

Following the recovery of the border pillars, a meeting of the District Coordination Committee was summoned.

District Security Committee Parsa has already urged the Indian side to stop extracting sand from the river.

The objects were found during sand mining in the river, thereby increasing the issue of geographical dispute in the river area.

According to Armed Police Force Superintendent of Police Suman Thapaliya, news of the recovery of border pillars from the river should 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 mainborder pillar 422 was recovered from the same river. Similarly, an assistant 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 levels carried out a field inspection of the area.

'Preparations were under way to hold dialogue with the sides concerned regarding the matter,' said CDO Regmi.

'India has been extracting sand from the river on a daily basis for many years,' said Shree Kanta Yadav, chair of Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality.

He urged the respective sector to take necessary steps in this regard.

'Indian contractors extract river materials from the river unopposed and take them to India on tractors during the night. Disputes have surfaced time and again when local people tried to stop this,' he said.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.