Maize planted on forest land was uprooted

Rautahat's Mahadev Sthan community forest land was encroached upon and the land was vacated by the team of the forest office by uprooting the crops planted in one and a half bigha such as maize and pulses. The residents of that area had started farming on the land of the forest area since a year ago. Chief Minister Satishkumar Singh was encroaching on forest land for farming, Head of Division Forest Office, Rautahat, Hemant Sahashit on Wednesday expressed concern.

Forest Chief Shah informed that after the interest of Chief Minister Singh, the Rautahat Forest Office uprooted the crops planted on the forest land and threw them away.

'The trespasser has destroyed the maize crops for one year. This year, the crops were planted recently. We have mobilized a team of forest workers and cleared the land," said Rautahat Divisional Forest Officer Sah. "Today (Thursday) we have already deployed to remove the remaining encroachments at that place."

Chief Minister Singh on Tuesday called the Divisional Forest Officers of all the eight districts of the state to the government residence in Janakpur and directed them to identify and remove old forest encroachment at least one place every month and to prevent new forest encroachment.

Madhesh province has only 4 percent of the total forest area. The structures built by encroaching on the forest areas of Sirha and Bara districts have already been demolished and cleared.