Bagmati Province
Division Forest Office recovers encroached forest land in Nuwakot district
Around half a dozen illegal shelters in the Bandevi Community Forest were demolishedKrishna Thapa
The Division Forest Office started recovering its encroached forest land in Bidur Municipality-2, Nuwakot, from Monday.
According to the forest office, around half a dozen illegal shelters (huts and houses) built in the Bandevi Community Forest at Bidur-2 were demolished on Monday. The forest office with the support of the local administration, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force evicted the illegal encroachers on the forest land.
According to the forest officials, the office had to take the measure since the settlers refused to move out of the forest area even after repeated eviction notice were sent to them. Raj Kumar Yadav, officiating chief at the forest office, said, “The encroachers had over time started operating eateries and shops out of illegally built huts.”
Chief District Officer Uddhav Bahadur Thapa said that the local administration helped the forest office clear the encroachment following the District Court’s eviction order.
“If they had listened to the requests earlier, we wouldn’t have had to evict them,” Thapa said. There are 376 national and community forests in the district. According to the forest officials, out of 35, 995 hectares, 142 hectares of forest cover have been encroached upon in the district.
Villagers said that forests in Devighat, Pipaltar, Simbhutar, Simchaur, Panchakanya, Shivapuri and Satdobato, among other areas, have been encroached upon.