Andhra villagers again put stones, flag on Odisha side

JEYPORE: A day after villagers from Andhra Pradesh put white painted stones and a flag on Odisha side of the border near Sunabeda village in Pottangi block of Koraput district, RDC, Southern Division T Apang Ao on Saturday visited the disputed site and took stock of the situation.

Sources said the villagers have put their own markings at a distance of 500 metre from the original point on the Odisha side. Alarmed by the development, the residents of Sunabeda had drawn the attention of Koraput administration towards the matter. During his visit to the spot, Ao held discussions with the revenue officials. He also inspected the disputed site and verified the Odisha settlement map.

The RDF directed the officials to undertake immediate joint verification of the spot with their counterparts from Visakhapatnam to resolve the deadlock as soon as possible. Sources said even as it was decided that the dispute will be resolved in a meeting between collectors of Koraput and Visakhapatnam, villagers from Andhra Pradesh have once again taken the matter into their own hands.

The villagers of Dakkapar, Badalamba, Busiguntha, Kolapur under Dumpuriguda Mandal in Andhra Pradesh had put stones, painted in white and a flag on Odisha side of the border on Friday escalating the border tension The villagers are in no mood to recognise the border markings put after the 1962 settlement of Odisha government.

While three teams of officials from Koraput have visited the site, their counterparts from Visakhapatnam have been to the spot only once since the row started more than a week back. Sources said while officials from Odisha are sticking to the border settlement map drawn in 1962, Andhra Pradesh remains insistent on the Google map of the area.