Around 1,500 hectares of forest cover in Jajarkot has been encroached upon and being converted into private properties, according to the District Forest Office (DFO). The DFO said that landless people have constructed 500 huts in the forestland near Khalanga district headquarters. DFO officials said that illegal settlers have built houses and irrigated farmlands on the land belonging to the forests at Bherimalika, Chhedagada and Nalgadh Municipalities and Kushe and Junichande Rural Municipalities.  

In an interaction programme organised in Jajarkot on Friday, Forest Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet directed the DFO officials to stop new encroachment within 24 hours. But he said the Ministry of Forest is going to manage the settlers, who have been living in the forestlands for a long time, in a proper place. 

The DFO started a campaign this fiscal year to stop the encroachment in the district. District Forest Officer Upendra Prasad Pattel said his office has started to evict the illegal settlers from the forest land in accordance to the Forest Act. The DFO said the drive to clear the encroachment was launched after holding an all-party meeting in the district. “We have planned to clear some forest land after the directives of the Minister,” said Pattel. 

There is 129,000 hectares of forestland in Jajarkot district.