‘India conspiring to inundate Lumbini’
Post Report
KATHMANDU, July 29 - Political leaders, water resource experts and Buddhist scholars today accused India of conspiring to inundate the land of Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha which has been already declared as the World Heritage site by UNESCO.
India started building Russiawal-Khurda Lautan barrage over the Danav River on the Nepal-India border, just about 6 km south-east of the 2,500 years old Buddhist shrine four months ago. The experts say "the construction will directly affect the natural flow of the rivers and the shrine can submerge at any time.
The barrage is being constructed only 200 metres south of the Nepal-India border.
Dr Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, a lawmaker from the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist and Leninist) and geographer said that India is taking undue advantage of the timidity of Nepalese government by constructing one after another dam to block the rivers flowing south from Nepal. He said this while addressing an interaction programme organised by Democratic National Youth Federation Nepal on Sunday.
"We must take this issue to the international arena and seek their support to fight against the Indian bulldozing," he warned.
Lawmaker Gokarna Bista said the construction of the barrage is a well-designed conspiracy of India to inundate the birthplace of Lord Buddha and create another fake Lumbini somewhere in the Indian territory.
Another geographer Netra Prasad Dhital, who had visited the site and prepared a report on it, said the barrage may inundate over 200 villages of Marchawar area. Member of National Human Rights Commission Kapil Shrestha said the unilateral act from Indian side has foiled the rights of hundreds of thousands of Nepalese as well as Indians.
"We must collect international opinion and their support on this issue," he said adding he would seek help from Indian human rights groups to press on the matter.
Dipak Gyawali, a water resource expert, said that the real feelings of the dwellers of Marchawar area should be sympathetically heard. |
