In the second week of last December, a wild tiger killed three people on the border of Kalimati Rural Municipality-6, 7 and Surkhet in Salyan.

After killing a person, the tiger killed farmers' livestock in the area around Ghuiyabari in Ward 7. The residents of Kalimati Rural Municipality-7, Ghuiyabari, 6 and 5 Damdwali, and Hattidamar have become terrified after the tiger, which killed three people, was seen in the forest near the settlement.

After the lives of locals living near the forest in the three wards were at high risk, the Forest Office wrote a letter to the Banke National Park to capture and kill the tiger. Security personnel deployed from the park searched for the violent tiger. The security personnel have neither been able to capture it nor kill it. The tiger is still occasionally seen in the forest near the settlement in the area. Due to the terror of the tiger, the locals are still unable to leave their homes alone.

After the tiger terror put their lives at high risk, the locals of Ghuiyawari, Damdwali, Hattidamar, and Hattidhunga staged a protest. They demanded the abolition of the park and the relocation of settlements around the park. The locals' demands were not heard.

After their demands were not heard, the political parties and candidates who went to campaign for the House of Representatives elections to be held on Falgun 21 have been demanding that the residents of Kalimati Ga 5, Damdwali, Hattidamar, 7, Ghuiyawari, and 6 Hattidhunga, including the settlements around the forest, take the initiative to abolish the Banke National Park or relocate the settlements around the park.

Since it has become difficult to even leave the house for work due to the fear of tigers and it is impossible to go anywhere alone, the locals of three wards have demanded that the candidates take the initiative to abolish the park or relocate the settlements.

The tigers that have entered the park have not only caused suffering to the general public but also affected all household chores, while children are forced to go to school in fear. Locals of Kalimati 5, 6 and 7 have started making a condition that they will support those who fulfill their demands in the elections.

Local Rato Basnet said that after not only repeatedly visiting the relevant bodies but also protesting, they had to demand that the candidates take the initiative. ‘We have not been able to leave our homes for almost a month due to the tiger threat. We have been forced to go to the forest near our house for firewood. All our work has been affected. If someone falls ill at night, it is also difficult to reach the health facility,’ he said. ‘We have to form a group of six or seven people when we go out for outside work. We are hoping that these candidates will help.’

Meanwhile, Chandra Bahadur Gaha Magar of Kalimati Rural Municipality-5 said that it is more important to protect oneself from man-eating tiger attacks than other development projects, so he has demanded that the park be closed or a settlement be relocated. According to him, the two/three settlements in the border area of ​​the park in Ward 7 have been displaced due to the tiger threat, and the settlement has become deserted.

Harikala Gaha, whose house is near the forest, said that she will support those who actively work to protect it from tigers in the election. She said that sometimes tiger footsteps can be seen in the forest near her house, sometimes it roars during the day, and sometimes it enters the cowshed at night and starts killing and eating livestock.
Ward Chairman of Kalimati Rural Municipality 5, Top Bahadur Karki, said that since the government has given more importance to tigers than the lives of the general public, the lives of the general public living around the forest are at high risk. All the ward residents have demanded that the park be abolished or the settlement be relocated, and if that is not possible, the area around the park should be fenced.