The confrontation between the 49th Battalion of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel and Nepalese civilians took place near the village of Sundar Nagar in the Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh, which led to tension in the state. The clash was announced on Tuesday.
Ujjwal Singh, who was in charge of the SSB’s Naujalha border outpost, said the SSB had confiscated a truck coming from Nepal on Monday. The truck was filled with cosmetics priced at Rs 24.55 lakh. One Vikram Chakravarty in the village of Naujalha was arrested for smuggling.
A large number of Nepalese people gathered at the border, ostensibly, to protest against waterlogging on no man’s land between the 17th and 18th border pillars due to the rupture of an irrigation pipeline in the village of Paddybojh.
Matters deteriorated to the point that civilian police had to be called in to monitor the situation.
SSB officers claim that border controls, along with waterlogging, have irritated some Nepalese people, as this was the route taken by bikers to smuggle goods into India. It has become slippery and dangerous to travel.
The villagers also reported that some Nepalese residents had grabbed the cell phones of two SSB jawans in the presence of the civilian police to prevent them from capturing video footage of the atrocious border scene. The SSB did not confirm the incident, however.
(PTI)