Nepal residents pelt stones on workers constructing embankment on Kali River in Uttarakhand

The incident left a Nepalese worker injured

Unidentified persons from Nepal pelted stones on workers constructing embankment on River Kali in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand on Sunday. The incident left a Nepalese worker injured.

An embankment is being built on the banks of the river from the Indian side to secure the Dharchula town bordering Nepal, from floods and erosion.

Confirming the stone pelting incident, District Magistrate (DM) of Pithoragarh, Reena Joshi told The Hindu that this was not the first time when stones were pelted by Nepal residents on workers on the Indian side of the border.

She said that a worker, a Nepal resident, suffered minor injuries in the incident. The incident also halted the work for few hours.

“Stone pelting incidents have increased in the past few months, even when we have explained the residents living in the bordering district of Nepal that construction of embankment is not going to adversely affect them in any way,” added the DM.

The plan to construct an embankment on the Kali was proposed following the 2013 floods in the river that destroyed a large number of homes and other constructions on both sides of the border. Nepal had already constructed a wall along the river to guard its villages against monsoon floods, and India has been doing the same since last year.

Krishna Garbiyal, a resident of Dharchula, said the residents of Nepal are objecting to the construction of the ‘security wall’ as they feel that this might cause the river to change its course and that Nepal will get impacted more in case if the river floods during monsoon.