Nepal locals hurl stones at workers in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh

The miscreants demanded withdrawal of a case lodged in India against Nepalese ''miscreants'' who hurled stones on Indian workers on December 4.

New Delhi, Dec 21: Indian workers building a protection wall along the Kali river between India and Nepal were pelted with stones from across the border, prompting the district administration to take up the issue with Nepalese authorities, an official said on Tuesday. The incident took place at Dharchula in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district on Monday, District Magistrate Rina Joshi said.

The stone pelters also raised slogans, she said. Joshi said she had spoken to the Nepalese authorities about the incident and added that they assured action against those involved. This was the second incident of stone pelting on Indian workers from across the border. Another alleged incident had occurred on December 4. They are demanding withdrawal of a case lodged in India against Nepalese ''miscreants'' who hurled stones on Indian workers on December 4, local residents said.

They alleged that the stone pelters bore allegiance to the Viplav faction of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Their intention is to disrupt the construction work along the riverbank. The Nepalese authorities were initially opposed to the construction of the protection wall due to apprehension that it would tilt the river's flow of the river towards Nepal, increasing the threat of floods, officials had earlier said.

However, Nepal subsequently agreed to allow the construction after being persuaded by Indian officials that precautions would be taken to ensure that Nepal's interests did not suffer. On December 4, some ''miscreants'' from Nepal hurled stones at Indians working on the wall at the Ghatkhola locality. It provoked tension between people of both countries with Indian traders blocking a border bridge with Nepal for nearly two hours.

The need to construct a protection wall on the Kali riverbank arose after the 2013 disaster in which the Ghatkhola area had witnessed massive flooding. ''We have already built 332 metres of the 985-metre protection wall. If the construction is allowed to go on peacefully, we will build the remainder before the onset of next monsoon,'' an irrigation department engineer said.