By Shiva Shankar Mishra
Kalaiya, Feb. 13: More than 11,000 hectares of forest land has been encroached in and around the Chure region in Bara district.
The encroached areas include land in Chakari in Amlekhgunj, Naya Basti and Damarpur in Ratanpuri, Bhaktalal, Bharatgunj, Sigaul, Kakari, Bodhawan, Haraiya, Jaitapur, Pathalaiya and other places, according to the Simara Division Forest Office.
Stakeholders claimed that the encroachers feel increasingly confident in impinging on woodlands because the forest workers remain silent. Similarly, the local leaders also give protection to the encroachers while many simply choose to remain oblivious to encroachment, claim activists.
Rather than taking action against encroachers, the local leaders have provided electricity and drinking water facilities to such settlements, they argued.
Local leaders worked to provide electricity to the slums built on illegitimately claimed forest land near Dudhaura Bridge on the Piluwa – Pathlaiya road section of Jeetpur Simara Sub-Metropolitan City.
Umesh Lal Das, President of the Civil Society of Bara, informed that a trend of providing facilities to the settlements built on the encroached land had been growing instead of clearing them, which has encouraged people to clear more forest areas. He urged local representatives, political parties and the local government to be more vigilant in protecting the forests.
It has been a decade since the Government of Nepal formulated the Forest Encroachment Control Strategy (FECS) in 2011. Yet, it has not been effectively implemented in Bara.
"The state has made arrangements for the conservation of forests and its sustainable consumption and distribution of benefits through the FECS and other legal provisions too," said Manjur Alam, Chief of the Division Forest Office, Bara.
The strategy requires the authorities to immediately clear the encroached area, build nature fences, plant trees and mobilise the public for forest conservation.
"The forest area, which has been unlawfully occupied by individuals and institutions for years will be cleared and reforested," Alam said, informing that around 40 hectares of encroached forest in the district had been re-established.
"Most of the settlements in Ratanpuri, Bharatgunj, Sigaul, Kolhavi, Sapahi, Prasuna and Kakadi have encroached forest," he added.
According to the Division Forest Office, forests used to cover 45,000 hectares of land in Bara in the past. But now, they only cover 31,000 hectares. Some forests were cleared for national pride projects like the fast track road, the second international airport at Nijgadh and expansion of the national park. Statistics further show that more than 11,000 hectares of forests have been encroached in the last five years.
Chief District Officer Deepak Pandey said that the areas would be reforested in coordination with the police, political activists and other stakeholders.

Timber smuggling on rise
Smugglers have been actively felling trees in the Nagmani and Kachhadia community forests in Nijgadh Municipality.
Timber smugglers are intensively cutting down Sal trees. Yet, the authorities have not shown any interest to stop them.