Since the forest department, security personnel and bulldozers have been present in the encroached forest area of ​​Madhuban Municipality-4, they have started demolishing their houses and huts and moving away. Since 2062/063 BS, residents living in two community forest lands in Belwa Chowk, Madhuban Municipality-4 have started demolishing their houses and huts and moving elsewhere based on the forest department's information.

They have been demolishing more than 40 houses and huts in the past four days and leaving the encroached area. According to the Division Forest Office, most of them had been operating shops in the encroached area for a long time. After the Division Forest Office, Bardiya issued a notice to vacate the forest area within 15 days on Baisakh 14, the encroached forest area of ​​Belwa Chowk has started vacating spontaneously, said Vijayraj Subedi, Chief of the Division Forest Office, Bardiya. Some have moved to their old places while some have rented houses on the numbered land around Belwa Chowk.

Dhan Bahadur Chaudhary, a tea shop owner in Madhuban-4, said that he would demolish the houses and run a shop on rented land to the east while demolishing the houses. He said that he has been doing business for 20 years and is spontaneously demolishing the houses as per the government's instructions. The Kisan Community Forest and Ramnagar Community Forest are located in Velwa Chowk. Vijay Raj Subedi, the chief of the Division Forest Office, said that 42 houses and huts were built in the forest area here by encroaching on the forest.

Panchu Bam, who came to Bardiya from Kalikot Melgudi VDC during the crisis due to fear of the then Maoists. 'There is nothing in the mountains, now there is no place to go when the forest area is cleared,' she said. 'Since everyone is demolishing the houses, we are also demolishing them so that the household goods are not damaged when the security personnel use force tomorrow.'

After leaving the encroached area based on the information from the forest in Velwa Chowk, two houses where huts have been built on forest land for years have been vacated in the Kothiyaghat Community Forest area in Madhuban.

The people who were relocated from the forest area moved there because their land was in the Orali Bazaar, said Nandaram Jaisi of Kothiyaghat. ‘After leaving two houses, the residents here, who currently have 25 houses and huts, have been living there since 2028 BS,’ he said. ‘The market has been established because the then District Panchayat Secretariat, forest officials, and others gave permission to operate hotels and grocery stores.’

Kothiyaghat was the only waterway of the Karnali River connecting the erstwhile 11 VDCs of Rajapur. Kaushalya Devi Shahi, 55, a hotelier from Kothiyaghat, said that she operated a hotel where people could eat and drink while coming and going day and night. She complained that there is no other house or land, and that if they are displaced during the rainy season or storm, they will not have a place to stay.

Locals have demanded that the encroached areas be vacated by identifying the actual squatters. Govinda Damai of Kothiyaghat said that it is necessary to identify the actual squatters and manage them. He said that removing encroachments will put children in trouble and cause problems in their studies.

Division Forest Office Chief Vijay Raj Subedi said that encroachment areas will be removed in accordance with the Forest Act as per the 15-day notice issued on April 14. He said that after removing encroachments in Kothiyaghat, Machad and Orali Bazaar in the first phase, it will be started gradually elsewhere as well. The forest department has stated that 27 encroached settlements in Kothiyaghat, 42 in Machad and 19 in Orali Bazaar will be removed.