National
Study team pins blame on India
Technicians say the incident occurred due to failure on India’s part to implement a decision taken two years agoA team of technicians formed to study the Tilathi incident, where Nepalis and Indians clashed over the construction of makeshift levee on no-man’s land, has said the incident occurred due to failure on India’s part to implement a decision taken two years ago.
Some people were injured in the clash ensued after Nepali side removed the makeshift levee that the Indian side had built allegedly encroaching no-man’s land on Thursday. The local people in Tilathi claimed the levee could inundate settlements in the Nepali territory.
After the incident, a bilateral meeting between security officials and local administrators of both the countries agreed to immediately halt the construction of levee and probe into the matter by the technical teams from both the sides.
The high-level technical team from the Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention inspected the site on Tuesday. Team coordinator and department’s Senior Divisional Engineer Arbind Gupta charged India of not adhering to an agreement reached between Nepal and India on March, 2014.
“The agreement was signed in Patna, India, following the joint survey by the technicians of both the countries. India signed the agreement but paid no heed to its implementation,” added Gupta.
In 2014, technicians from Nepal and India had also agreed to channel Khado and Jita rivers from the current location—where the clash occurred—to the Bhaluwahi river on the west.
Meanwhile, another team from the Survey Department also inspected the incident site on Tuesday. “We have taken the survey map of the area. We will study it once we return to Kathmandu,” said chief Survey Officer Ramesh Gyawali.