More than 800 British era boundary stones go missing!
LUCKNOW: While settling a boundary dispute about two months ago, government officers came across a peculiar problem. The unique stones installed during the British era to mark boundaries of villages were nowhere to be found!
After an investigation, officers came to the conclusion that once the country attained independence, the locals dug out the stones, presuming there was treasure hidden beneath. Others took them away as they found them interesting and of antique value.
However, this led to confusion among villagers as well as administrative officers as far as settlement of land disputes was concerned. Such was the case when two parties approached the district administration over a land dispute in the rural part of the district. “When we began to track the boundary of the village, our search ended in ‘no man’s land’ as no boundary stone was present,” said an administrative officer.
The district magistrate then sought details from the tehsils, demanding to know the total numbers of missing stones in their jurisdiction. Officers thus mounted a search, discovering that over 800 stones were missing. The officers said that the stones were installed by the British government and were unique as they bore special markings, maps of village and codes.
“It was perhaps their design and attractive markings that led to people taking them away or presuming that a treasure lay hidden below,” said an officer.
The district administration has now has started its drive to redefine boundaries of villages and reinstall the boundary stones. “Stones are being brought from Chunar to redefine the boundaries of the villages,” said Avinash Singh, ADM administration. He said that overall 961 villages had been identified where boundary stones were missing. “We are installing stones at all these villages.” In BKT, around 280 stones have already been installed and teams are working to install stones in other villages too. “Installation of stones will minimise land disputes,” said Singh.