MPRF cadres reached Jogbani border early Thursday morning and started blocking trucks. There had been a heated debate as some drivers defied MPRF cadres´ diktat to handover all keys.[break]
“Though we were ready to stop our trucks, MPRF cadres snatched away our keys,” Amaresh Giri, driver of Na. 3 Kha 4150 truck, said. Umesh Yadav, Morang chapter president of MPRF, however, maintained that they resorted to snatching keys just because police tried to help them pass the border.
MPRF cadres stopped trucks from exporting boulder, stone and sand into India after their president Upendra Yadav asked the government to preserve natural resources at a press meet.
After blocking trucks in Biratnagar, MPRF has mobilized its cadres in other border areas of Morang. “We have already sent our cadres to Taregana, Chauparaha and Doriya areas,” MPRF´s Morang secretary Mrityunjaya Jha told Republica.
According to Jha, MPRF will soon spearhead its campaign to other Tarai districts, too. “This campaign is necessary because the destruction of Chure region will have an adverse impact on our environmenta,” Jha said, adding, “we will mull over rolling back our campaign only after confirming as to whether crusher plants being operated in Chure region are legal.”
More than 35 trucks of sand and boulder are exported to Farbisgunj of India every day from Morang district alone. Shivashankar Paribahan Sewa, an Itahari-based transportation company, owns a majority of trucks used to export boulder and sand. Each truck carries about 22 tons of boulder and sand. It is learned that Nepali boulder and sand are used to build a four-lane Indian National highway connecting Guwahati to Delhi.
A number of police personnel have been deployed on the road leading to Jogbani border, where sand and boulder loaded trucks have been halted. “We are trying to return keys grabbed by MPRF cadres to truck drivers,” Superintendent of Police Rabibikram Thapa told Republica. “We can not stop export of sand and boulder unless the government formally instructs District Development Committees (DDCs) to do so.”
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