The government authorities are yet to erect five boundary pillars along the Nepal-India border that had collapsed in floods last month.

Fearing possible border disputes, the locals worry that the collapsed border pillars might gradually be swept away.

“The collapsed pillars will be swept away if the stream gets flooded again. Nobody from the government has visited the area to reconstruct the pillars,” said Rajendra Yadav, a local.

The floods on July 13 damaged five border pillars in the local streams at Bijayanagar Rural Municipality of Kapilvastu. Floodwaters from the Chirai stream in Bijayanagar had damaged four pillars that separate Thakurapur of Nepal and Balarampur of India. Dinesh Chaudhary, ward chairman of Bijayanagar-7, said four pillars numbered 577/7, 577/9, 578/7 and 578/10 were damaged by the floods.

“Pillar number 577/7 has completely submerged into water,” said Police Constable Parashuram Yadav.

Security agencies and the local administration had inspected the collapsed pillars last month but are yet to take any initiatives for their reconstruction.

Suman Nepal, inspector at the Area Police Office in Ganeshpur, said the unit has already informed the police headquarters in Kathmandu about the issue.

“The locals are demanding for the damaged pillars to be reconstructed soon,” Nepal sai. According to Nepal, two other border pillars numbered 578/3 and 578/6 are also on the verge of collapse.

On Wednesday, the local administration was informed that two other boundary pillars were also damaged at Chamar forest of Bijayanagar.

“One pillar has been buried while another has lost its upper half,” said Narayan Prasad Timilsina, a forest guard.

The pillars, which were constructed this year, were built weak to begin with, according to locals.

“The pillars’ foundations were hardly half-metre wide. As a result, they couldn’t survive last month’s floods,” said Chaudhary.