Mechi Bridge (India-Nepal border), Dec. 10: Border guards today prevented around 70 Nepalese, earlier pushed out of Bhutan where they had settled down, from entering India in a bid to return to their homes.

The Nepalese tried to cross into India at the border, around 40 km from Siliguri. The Sashastra Seema Bal, the paramilitary force that mans the India-Nepal border, with the help of Bengal police and Royal Nepal Police, thwarted their plans.

The settlers stayed put at the border for about five hours. Around 5 pm, the Nepal police hired a bus and sent them back to their camps in Jhapa in east Nepal, from where they had come with their belongings.

There are about 1.15 lakh Nepalese refugees who were pushed out of Bhutan and have been living in seven camps at Jhapa for 15 years.

The Nepalese had assembled under the Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front and the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan.

“India is said to be the largest democracy. How can it support the Bhutan government in such an undemocratic act?” asked T.B. Rai, the president of the Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front.

“There is a lot of resentment among youths (in the camps), who are frustrated as there are no opportunities to either study or work,” said S.B. Subba, the chairman of the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan.

According to intelligence inputs, the Nepalese might try to enter again. “We have information that they will try to cross over into India in the next few days,” Siliguri additional superintendent of police Tripurari said.