Local people said they are barred from using 80 of 200 bighas of farmland they have been tilling for years. They accused Seema Surakshya Bal, the Indian border security force, of hurling abusive words at them when they went to till the land some days ago. “We were assaulted when we went to till the land,” said local resident Munsi Harijan.

Locals accused the SSB of encouraging villagers at Rampur in Bihar, India, to encroach upon the land by preventing Nepalis from using it. “Now 8,000 hectares of land in the bordering area has been left unused as the land is in the disputed area. This has put our existence at risk,” said Gopal Gurung, chairperson of the Campaign to Save Susta.

Gurung said their repeated calls to locate the no man’s land and border pillars have gone unheard.

Inspector Man Bahadur Bohara of the Armed Police Force at the border stressed on the need to resolve the matter through government level talks between the two countries. He said that an agreement has been reached between representatives of the two countries to hold a meeting to settle the matter in the local level.