A majority of community forests in the district have relaxed restriction on firewood collection as people are facing crisis of cooking gas for the past two months due to Tarai protests and India’s unofficial blockade.

The community forest user committees said consumers can collect dry logs from forests. Tejendra Paudel, former chairman of the Badagaun Community Forest, said they allowed locals to collect dry firewood from forest areas in view of the ongoing fuel crisis.

“Locals are facing hardships due to the shortage of fuel,” Paudel said, adding that many people are now dependent on forest to manage firewood. Local

residents, including businessmen and professionals, have started collecting firewood from Thulo Pakho, Bakas, Buwaneshori forest areas.

“There are only rumours of cooking gas distribution,” said a government official who reached the forest area to collect firewood. Pushpa Lamichhane of district headquarters Kushma also shared similar ordeal. “We queued up for five hours to receive cooking gas but to no avail,” Lamichhane said.

Local authorities informed that they are unable to distribute cooking gas due to the shortage. Chief District Officer Jhankanath Dhakal urged locals not to panic saying that efforts are under way to bring the fuel and cooking gas to the district.