Pithoragarh: Days after several Nepalese were found to have barricaded a portion of the no-man’s land near the India-Nepal border and a boundary pillar missing, chief district officer and other senior officials of Kanchanpur in Nepal inspected the area adjoining Uttarakhand’s Champawat on Sunday.
The Nepalese officials said that they held a meeting with those who have encroached the area and asked them not to start any work there. They added that further steps would be taken after a meeting with their Indian counterparts.
On Wednesday, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) had prevented a few Nepalese citizens from barricading no-man’s land along the border and planting saplings there. They had also found that border pillar 811 was missing from the spot. A meeting of senior district-level officials belonging to both the countries was then convened and the Nepalese had assured that necessary steps would be taken to evict the encroachers.
Champawat DM SN Pande said that the district administration had sent a report to the state home department and also lodged a complaint with the authorities of Kanchanpur in Nepal. “We had asked them to visit the area to get an idea of the ground reality. Another meeting of officials from both the countries is likely next week to discuss the issue.”
The DM said, “The field survey teams from both countries had held a meeting in January. At the time, the Indian team had wanted the survey to start from Tanakpur and the Nepalese from Lakhimpur Kheri. However, the survey could not be held at all due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Meanwhile, there were reports of unidentified miscreants causing trouble in the area.
