Nearly one thousand hectares of forest have been encroached on in the name of government and non-government organizations, including landless people, in Bardiya. According to the Division Forest Office, Bardiya, forest areas have been encroached upon and police offices, campuses, schools, Red Cross, rental shops, and markets have been run contrary to the law.

According to the Forest Office, government and non-government offices, community forests, the Krishnasar Conservation Area Office, schools, Red Cross, and other organizations have been encroached upon by constructing buildings in the transferred forests.

District Forest Officer Vijayraj Subedi said that there are about one thousand hectares of forest areas where structures have been built and encroached upon contrary to the Forest Act. He said that preparations are underway to remove forest encroachment in the Machad and Kothiyaghat areas in the first phase with the help of political parties.

According to the Division Forest Office, gravel and blacktop roads have been built in the encroached forest areas in the past. The community forest at Belwa Chowk in Madhuban Municipality has been encroached upon and a building and market have been constructed. The Forest Office has stated that the Sapti Devi Community Forest constructed in Basgadhi Municipality, the Area Police Office in Motipur, Bardiya Multiple Campus, the Red Cross building in the forest area at Belwa Chowk in Madhuban Municipality, the concrete rental building, and eight concrete buildings constructed in the forest area at Orali Bazaar have been constructed in violation of the Forest Act. It has been found that concrete buildings have also been constructed inside the forest in the name of community forest. Although the Act provides for the construction of concrete buildings for forest security and office operations, there is a provision that concrete structures cannot be constructed.

Forest officials say that despite the issuance of notices to remove encroachments in forest areas such as Khurkhure Phata, Bangai in Barbardiya, Orali Bazaar in Madhuban, and Kothiyaghat for the past decade, the action process has not progressed due to the lack of activity from the parties. District Forest Officer Subedi said that despite the pressure to immediately remove structures built for business purposes within the forest area for a decade and a half, efforts to remove encroachments have not been possible due to the lack of sufficient support from political parties.

Gopal Prasad Chaudhary, President of the Community Forest Users Federation, said that additional problems have arisen when non-governmental organizations have built structures ranging from toilets to gravel, blacktop roads, and electrification as soon as the forest encroachment occurred. ‘They do not agree to move out even as facilities are being added with the help of local levels and political parties,’ he said. ‘For this, the encroached areas should be cleared with the help of the Division Forest Office, political parties, and others. The real land encroachment should be identified and managed.’