 |
Kathmandu Thursday June 21, 2001 Ashadh 07, 2058.
|
Squatters
to be removed from forest area
Post Report
GULARIYA, June 20 - The
District Forest Office (DFO) is determined to evacuate all so-called squatters and
ex-Kamaiyas (bonded labourers) encroaching various parts of forest areas of the district
over the last one month.
DFO Gopal Baskota said that
in some places people have cut down the standing sal trees with ill-intentions. He said
that he had decided to evacuate all of them to protect the rain forest from becoming
further deforested.
Currently, a large number of
squatters and ex-Kamaiyas have captured the forestland in Dhadhawar, Khaireni Phanta,
Gujrana Phanta of the Gulariya municipality, Sahelawa Phanta of the Baniyabhar VDC and
three other areas.
Sources close to the Forest
Office said that the squatters and ex-Kamaiyas have built, at least, 5,000 huts
encroaching the forestland.
The source claimed that those
people started to encroach the forest after the Squatters Problem Resolution Commission
allowed them to live there. The landless people had earlier held a sit-in campaign in the
district headquarters demanding their rehabilitation.
Coordinator of the Commission
Shiva Prasad Upadhyay refuted the charges labelled against his office. He said that he had
simply told the squatters to show him the empty land in the district where he could make
some arrangement for their resettlement.
Earlier,about four months
ago, the Forest Office had sought police help to remove about 7,000 huts, built by the
so-called squatters from the land of the state-owned Cotton Development Committee,
established to grow cotton in the mid-western region.
According to the official
statistics, of the total 121,000 hectares of forest land in this plain district, 100,000
hectares of forest is occupied by the Royal Bardiya National Park (RBNP), 4,000 hectares
by the forest project, 2,500 hectares by the community forestry and the rest of the forest
by the District Forest Office.
The RBNP is the home to the
endangered one-horned Asiatic rhino, Royal Bengal tiger, Asian elephant, black buck and a
number of other wildlife, which is located near the Karnali and Babai rivers.
Other Stories
|
