Ramprit Yadav came to Chitwan as a young man. Born in Siraha, his responsibility here was to determine the boundaries of Chitwan National Park. Yadav, who came as a ranger, retired from his working life as the head of Chitwan National Park and some other national park reserves. But after retirement, he neither left the responsibility of conservation nor Chitwan. Yadav, who was also active in conservation in Budhauli, breathed his last on Saturday at the age of 83 in Bharatpur, Chitwan.

According to information provided by Yadav's uncle Deepak Kumal, Yadav was admitted to the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur for treatment last Sunday. He died in the same hospital on Saturday.

Born in December 1942 in Barihairpatti, Siraha, Yadav came here three years before the establishment of Chitwan National Park. Even after retirement, he still loved Chitwan.

'I love Chitwan. There are forests here, there are animals in the forests. For a long time, I lived only in forests and wildlife. So leaving Chitwan feels like being away from these,' Yadav had said in a recent meeting. The National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act was promulgated in 2029 BS. After that, the formal announcement of the establishment of Chitwan National Park was made on Asoj 4, 2030 BS. Ramprit and others had been working in the field before this.

Ramprit came to Chitwan in 2027 BS. Yadav, along with a team of Bishwanath Upreti, Karna Shakya and a British citizen John Blower, had come to Chitwan. Before coming to Chitwan, Yadav was a ranger at the Hetauda Forest Office. These four people pitched tents and set up a camp on the banks of the Rapti River in Sauraha. They worked on measuring and searching for the boundary.

Ramprit worked in Chitwan National Park for 27 years. He rose from a ranger in Chitwan to an assistant conservation officer and later to a chief conservation officer. As a chief conservation officer, he was transferred to Bardiya National Park in 2046 BS.

He spent only about 6 years of his working life outside Chitwan. He lived in Chitwan for a long time. When he retired in 2057 BS, he was the Chief Conservation Officer of Parsa National Park (then a wildlife reserve). He now lives in Krishnapur, Bharatpur. The initial days of the government conservation campaign were not easy. Yadav used to say that he worked on the border by drinking river water without any comforts.

The park officials did not even have uniforms. He said that he received the facility of uniforms after 2044 BS after pleading with King Birendra. The people were also not positive about the establishment of the park in the beginning. The forest area occupied by the park was a place for the residents of four districts to graze their cattle and cut grass. Not everyone was aware of why tigers and rhinos should be protected. The forest was open. Yadav had recalled that cattle from Madi in the south used to travel long distances to Tandi in the east.

When the restrictions on wildlife and forest resources were tightened, the locals did not get angry. ‘But we started holding meetings of the Pradhan Panchayats and locals to explain the matter. We started giving information about the importance of the tigers and rhinos in the park and here. When we started explaining the importance, they started understanding,’ Rampreet had said.

After working for the fund for five years, he joined the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) program. His activism as a conservation consultant in the WWF’s Tal project continued until the end of his life. He gave time to the Tal project to make everyone in the community aware and conscious of conservation, not by sitting in the office. He used to go from village to village to make everyone in the community aware of conservation. He used to go to village even in his old age to talk about conservation by riding an old ordinary motorcycle.