Indian workers working on Kali river wall in Uttarakhand face attacks from Nepal border

Windscreens of four trucks were damaged here in Dharchula, a border town, and their drivers had to jump into Kali river to save themselves as they were attacked with stones from Nepal, officials said on Saturday.

"Indian workers were attacked once again from the Nepal side on Friday," SDO irrigation department Farhan Ahmad said.

The attack had been one of the several such launched in the past few days from across the border against Indian workers engaged in the construction of a safety wall along Kali river, the official said on Saturday.

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Windscreens of two dumper and two tipper trucks were broken in the stone throwing, which were launched here via catapults, he said.

A safety wall is being built in Dharchula along Kali river which flows between the two countries.

Some elements in Nepal are opposed to its construction and have been throwing stones on Indian workers to disrupt work at the site.

"It will be difficult to continue work if such incidents are not stopped by the administration," Ahmad said.

Dharchula SDM Divesh Shashni said that he has informed the District Magistrate about the incident.

Indian officials will take up the matter with their Nepalese counterparts if such incidents occur in future.

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Dharchula residents said when Nepal was constructing a protection wall on its side there was no opposition from India but Nepalese hostile elements had stopped work for the 11th time till Friday.

"They are testing our patience. If such incidents continue, we will have to force closure of the border bridge on Kali to stop Nepalese citizens from entering into India," said Prema Kutiyal, a Councillor of Dharchula Nagar Palika.