Authorities have raised alarm over rampant deforestation taking place in the far-western hills.

Over half the pine forests in Dadeldhura and Doti districts have been destroyed in the past 15 years, according to former forest officer Dharma Bahadur Chand. “No one has paid attention to stop such activities,” he said.

Villagers in the districts have endured prolonged droughts due to destruction of the forest resources. The data compiled by District Forest Office (DFO) in Dadeldhura and Doti suggest locals have been cutting down trees in 294 community forests in Dadeldhura and 353 in Doti for the past 10 years.

People are even destroying national forests in the districts, according to the data. Seventy five hectares of pine forests in Doti and 45,667 hectares of pine forests in Dadeldhura have been destroyed due to massive collection of pine resin.

A report presented by an all-party team shows that 27 percent of pine forests has been destroyed due to careless collection of resin.

According to the DFO data, around 113,000 cubic feet of pine timber has been transported to other parts of the country on a regular basis. Neither DFOs could provide the exact data on timber exports in the past five years.

Acting Forest Officer of Dadeldhura Laxmi Joshi said 12,498 cubic feet of timber has already been shipped to other parts of the country this year.