“The SSB personnel threaten the locals to cough up anything from Rs 50- 500 to be permitted to cross the border. If the locals refuse, they are beaten up,” said Sher Singh Dhami from Sirsha Village Development Committee (VDC).
Indian market is closer than Nepali towns for the people of inner Tarai, where more than half of the district´s population lives. Hundreds of Nepalis cross the Bangghat (Tatapani-Parshuram) border almost daily to buy essentials for daily use. The route is also used by youths migrating to India in search of employment.
According to locals, the SSB personnel even make Nepalis work for them. “They (SSB) threaten us even when we use legal route,” said Kailash Pandey, a local Nepali Congress leader. Local political leaders have urged the SSB time and again to stop its excesses but to no avail.
The SSB personnel deployed on the border have also been threatening Nepali businessmen trading goods in the Indian markets claiming the route used by the latter is illegal. The SSB maintains that it has been acting under instructions from the headquarters to control smuggling and infiltration.
Locals have been demanding that the government take up the issue with the Indian government. Chief District Officer of Dadeldhura Rajendra Prasad Ghimire, however, said he has no knowledge of the SSB´s excesses.
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