Divisional Forest Office Chandranigahpur arrested two persons on the charge of trespassing in the bagar area of ​​Bagmati River located in Vrindavan Municipality-1. They were active in going to Sutuk forest area and making fields by cutting small trees.

The forest patrol team of the Division Forest Office arrested Biltu Rai Yadav of Vrindavan-4 Haraiya while he was cutting butane in the Khairghari forest area of ​​Balleri in Vrindavan. Divisional Forest Chief Hemant Sah said that Yadav had encroached on the area of ​​about 5 Kattha forests surrounded by Bagmati river in the east, Bhagalo in the west, Khairghari and Ailani farmlands in the north and south. According to the Forest Encroachment Act, 2076, action has been initiated against the arrested Yadav. Forest encroachment is increasing in Ballari area. 

The problem of national forest encroachment in the districts of Madhesh province is getting worse recently. The forest has been 'succeeded' in removing the encroachment. Forestry experts understand that the practice of unannounced support of encroachers by political parties is causing problems in protecting forests. 

District has a total of 29 thousand 436.330 hectares of national forest area. Recently, 3 thousand 190.520 hectares of forest has been encroached upon. This is not the latest data. 

Chandrapur-8, in Betauna, after the forest area was cleared and houses were built, three years ago, the forest tried to remove it using large manpower. The forest could not remove the encroachment after the pressure of the party leaders under the guise of political access and votes.

During the removal of the encroachment, there was a clash between the encroachers and the security personnel. The forest office said that encroachment is also taking place in the Chure area. Here, the encroachers of Peswara have been systematically clearing forests and making houses. In the beginning, small huts were built in this area and the forest started removing them. Later this work could not proceed . Until 10 years ago, there were large trees of sal and kukath in this area . All were cut and taken away by the smugglers and the squatters started building concrete houses in that place. Settlements have been made by making bushes even in empty squares. 

Bagmati area has been encroached upon and encircled. There is a crop planted . Recently, concrete houses have been built in Chure area. In this area, the forest staff were mistreated many times . A forest employee said that when going to an encroached area, the leader of one or the other party warns and pressures them not to move. There is widespread encroachment in Bagmati, Balrikhor, Maira, Chandrapur, Judibela, Gaindatar areas of the district.

Hemant Sah, head of division forest, said that division forest has established forest area by removing the corn crop and wire fence planted in 17 hectares of national forest in Gaindatar, Paurai, Vrindavan, Dhansar area . "It is very challenging to clear the occupied forest area," he said.

Chandrapur-3, located in Bholantar area, a concrete house has been built on the half of Chure. As a result, there has been frequent conflict between the forest and encroachers in that area. Locals have been uprooting the fence that the forest has put up to stop the encroachment.  

The forest area is being encroached upon in Betauna, Banbohri, Gaindatar, Judibela, Kanakpur, Jangalsaiya, Chandranigahpur, Santapur, Rangpur, Maira, Balrikhor, Bagmati and Bholantar areas. Encroachment has been intensified by planting crops in the Maira forest area of ​​Gujra Municipality. Those who used to have simple huts have now started building concrete houses. 

Division Forest Chief Sah said that since the encroachers are institutionally active, work is being done to break their network. "When it comes to removing encroachments, they are affiliated with one or the other party, this is also a problem for us," he said, "The government should take initiatives to remove encroachments at the national level." Forests alone will not solve the problem.' 

The team of Division Forest Office Sirha arrested Kumar Tamang, his wife Malti Lama and Kasindra Sada, who encroached community forest in Chure Chaufal Satpatre, Golbazar Municipality-10 on 4th July 2080 . While digging the land of the community forest, the team arrested the three people along with the tractor. 

In the last financial year, the Division Forest Office had planted trees with wire fences on about 30 hectares of land in the last financial year.

Rautahat has 27 thousand 7 hundred 7.950 hectares of forest area . The forest office said that 993.140 hectares were affected by encroachment. Assistant Forest Officer Radheshyam Choudhary said that encroachment is most common in Golbazar, Mirchaiya and Chure areas. "This time around 18 hectares of forest has been encroached and houses have been removed by the forest," he said.

Out of 11,586 forest areas in Parsa, 468 hectares are under encroachment. According to the data of the Madhesh Forest Directorate, only 134.320 hectares have been encroached upon. Of the 77 thousand 123 hectares of forest area, 65 thousand 537.400 hectares belong to the park. Locals of Parsa have built houses, towers and farms in partnership, community and religious forest areas.

Manzoor Ahmed, head of Division Forest Office Parsa, said that the local level becomes an obstacle when trying to remove encroachment. Narrated . "The forest is on one side and everything else is on the other side," he said, "We have asked to vacate the houses, towers, and plowed fields in the forest area, but the local level does not agree, encroachment is against the law." But the leaders try to register the land under the pretext of being landless. The law can never do this .' 

A forest officer said that while removing forest encroachment, there is a wrong tradition of defending it politically. According to Division Forest, the forest near Barah, Thori Rural Municipality of Parsa has also been encroached upon. This is the most encroached forest area in Parsa. Gadhimai Partnership Forest Area, Madhuvan Area, Sakhuwapersauni Partnership Forest, Sabaya Partnership and Vindhwasini Partnership Forest are under encroachment. 

Forest encroachment is also intense. The national forest area here is under the grip of human encroachment. 1000 hectares of forests have been encroached upon in various places including Bodhwan, Haraiya, Singaul, Bharatganj, Nayabasti, Chakri, Kakri, Dammarpur, Bhaktlal, Jaitapur, Pathalaiya, etc.

Forest says that encroachment has started to become institutionalized recently. This district has 47 thousand 182.680 hectares of forest area including parks. Chakri, Tangia New Basti is the most encroached area according to Division Forest Office Simra. 

In the Ratanpuri area of ​​Chure, the locals have encroached on the forest area and built a house. Cultivation is done there. Chief of Forest Division Rajeev Kumar Jha said that political commitment is necessary first if encroachment is to be removed. "Despite getting help from the party to stop the theft, it does not seem to be sensitive enough to remove the encroachment," he said. Even though the national forest of Madhesh province has been encroached upon by setting fire to the roots of trees, drying them, and encroaching on them, the control has not been effective. 

Some time ago, the maize forest that was encroached on Piluwa in Bara's Dumarwana was destroyed by the team. In January 2080, a case was registered in the district court of Bara against 35 people, including Siddha Bahadur Thapa, the president of the Community Forest Consumer Committee, on the charge of trespassing on the land of Vandevi Community Forest located in Nijgadh Municipality-2, Sigoul, Baraka. Thapa had encroached about 20 hectares of national and community forest land and distributed it to monasteries, temples, schools, etc., and sold one bigha of land to different people. 

Bharatganj Sigoul Chakri, Nayabasti, Dammarpur, Bhaktlal, Kakri, Bodhwan, Haraiya, Jaitapur, Pathalaiya etc. forest areas are under the grip of encroachment. Bara's data and forest directorate's data do not match . According to the data of the directorate, only 0.340 hectares of Bara have been encroached. 

Even in Sarlahi, the number of people building houses in the national forest has increased. Chure in the north and forest areas in the south have built houses in a hurry. Fencing, building houses and planting crops are intensive in this area . The encroached forest area in some places of Sarlahi's Lalbandi has been removed by the Division Forest Office. Out of 29 thousand 736.13 hectares of forest area in this district, 6 thousand 699 hectares belong to Sagarnath Forest Development Project. So far, Division Forest has no new data on how much forest area has been encroached. 

According to the National Forest Division, 637 hectares of forest were encroached on in 2063. According to the data of the directorate, it appears that 164.78 hectares have been encroached upon. Division Forest Chief Narendra Thakur also says that the latest data is yet to be collected since 2063.

Sarlahi's Murtiya and Chure are in areas where encroachment is high. The political situation of the country, migration, squatters, landless, free laborers, victims of natural calamities and the forest area is also used for the development of schools, hospitals, hydropower, roads. In most places, houses have been built in the name of associations, institutions, and monasteries on vacant forest land . This has also promoted encroachment, said an officer of the forest.

7.25 hectares of forest in Saptari has come under the grip of encroachment. In the encroached forest area of ​​the district, the local people are doing farming . But the Division Forest Office has claimed that the encroachment is zero as it has removed all those who have encroached recently. 

There are 21 thousand 136 hectares of forest in Saptari. There are 95 community forests. A team of 22 local people started a walk to Kathmandu on June 1 last with Chure and forest conservation campaign from Saptari Bhardah.  

Locals believe that the government's readiness to stop forest destruction in Madhes is low. Based on political access, the same employee stays in the same place for years. But they have not played a significant role in conservation. Uddhav Bahadur Ghimire, Secretary of Madhesh Forest Ministry, said that political commitment is necessary to remove encroachment. The main issue of forest protection is encroachment. This is also a political issue,' he said, 'Political commitment is needed first to remove the encroachment.' Most of the district forest chiefs have one and a half decade old encroachment data.   

Squatters are also active in forest encroachment in Madhesh province. In order to prevent the increasing encroachment and destruction of the Chure area, the government started the Chure conservation program from 2066 from Mechi to Mahakali. However, the program was not effective. The forest had planted trees and fencing in that area . Overnight, the encroachers uprooted the plants and threw the fence. In that area, even now, the forest staff has to go. 

In the election, the party leaders reach the encroachment areas and declare their commitment to support them. Encroachment of the forest has been institutionalized under their guise . Forest and Environment Minister of Madhesh Province Tribhuwan Sah said that the work of removing forest encroachment has started in all districts of Madhesh.

Chure in crisis

Chure area is in crisis due to increasing deforestation, encroachment and quarrying. The encroachment has increased after the squatters living in that area took possession of the chure and cut trees and cultivated it. Even though the forest tried to remove the encroachment of Chure, it was not possible due to the intervention of the party. 
In an organized manner, some trees have been cut and crops have been planted, and houses have been built in empty places. The forest staff says that gangs of encroachers are active in that area. The forest has said that the conservation of Chure is a priority. Sukman Lama, who has been living in Chure for 14 years, has encroached about 7 kattha of forest land and planted crops. He has built a wooden house under the guise of a farm. He told that it was not a desire but a compulsion to clear the forest and grow crops.