The Chief District Officer has honored those who voluntarily removed their houses and huts from Belwa Chowk after the Division Forest Office's ultimatum, and the campaign to clear encroached forests is ongoing in other areas as well.
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The Chief District Officer (CDO) has honored those who voluntarily vacated the encroached forest area. Tul Bahadur Shrestha, Dhan Bahadur Tharu and Pujari Tharu of Belwa Chowk, Madhuban Municipality-4 were honored by CDO Gogan Bahadur Hamal on Thursday by covering them with dosallas.
The Division Forest Office was present with a dozer and the head of the security agency to remove the encroached area of Belwa Chowk. The Division Forest Office used a dozer on Thursday to demolish the vacated concrete houses. Other thatched houses have been removed by the concerned persons. There were 40 households living in the Ram Nagar Community Forest to the north of the chowk and the Kisan Community Forest to the south.
The Division Forest Office had given a 15-day ultimatum on April 14 to vacate the encroached forest area. After the forest department issued the notice, the locals of Belwa Chowk spontaneously vacated their houses.
Pradeep KC, a local who has been living and doing business in Belwa Chowk since 2062/063, said. Manrani Tharu, a single woman who has been doing business in Belwa Chowk for a long time, said. ‘I did not have to pay rent when I shopped here,’ she said. ‘I have shifted my shop to the Dhodhari side of IPR after receiving the notice to move from here.’
Those who have land in other places have moved to their own houses, while those who do not have land are living in rented rooms. Similarly, Saraswati Tharu of Thukauli Phata Sukumvasi Basti in Madhuban Municipality-4 asked for 5/6 months from the Chief of the Division Forest Office, Vijayraj Subedi, to move her house. However, when Chief Subedi said that he could not give that much time, Tharu returned in a daze. Saraswati said that she did not have land in other places. ‘My husband got injured while going to work and is unable to work,’ she said, ‘I have not been able to repay the loan taken from my relatives for my husband’s treatment. The children are small. Now there is a lot of stress about where to take the house and demolish it immediately.’
Pradya Hamal said that the locals of Belwa Chowk voluntarily vacated the encroached forest area after the notice was issued. ‘We have honored them by covering them with a dosalla for their cooperation in the campaign to vacate government land,’ he said.
Pradya said that the campaign programs will be conducted only after proper management in the case of squatters and unorganized people. Vijayraj Subedi, head of the Division Forest Office, said that the campaign to remove the encroached houses and huts started from Thursday. ‘Most of the people from Madhuban 4 Belwa Chowk have moved out on their own,’ he said, ‘We are removing the remaining huts.’ He said that people are being evacuated spontaneously in Kothiyaghat, Orali Bazaar. ‘Those who are living encroaching on the forest area have been removed. There is no program to remove squatters who do not have houses or demolish their houses. We are removing those who have houses and land elsewhere,’ said Chief Subedi.
The Division Forest Department had given a 15-day ultimatum to remove the huts built illegally in Kothiyaghat, Machad (Belwa) Chowk, Sangam Basti in Gulariya, Khurkhurephanta in Barbardiya, Rambasti, Amar Mahila Community Forest and other community forest areas within the forest area. After the forest department gave the ultimatum, the general public living in other places in the forest area has become panicked. The deadline for the notification has expired on April 28.
Subedi, Chief of the Division Forest Office, said that 125 hectares of forest area out of 3/4 community forests located in Khurkhurephanta, Barbardiya Municipality-5 has been encroached. Similarly, 75 hectares out of 125 hectares of Jai Kusumba Bhavani community forest area in Gulariya Municipality-2 has been encroached, said Chief Subedi. He said that data is being collected based on the estimate that about 500 hectares of forest area has been encroached across the district.
Chief Subedi said that 17.34 hectares of encroached forest areas including 0.1 hectares of encroached forest areas in Madhuban Municipality-2 Amar Mahila Community Forest Area, 0.7 hectares of Barbardiya Municipality-3 Kalika Community Forest Area, 0.7 hectares of Madhuban Municipality-4 Kisan Community Forest, 1.4 hectares of Thakurbaba Municipality-3 Khodau Community Forest Area, and 1.28 hectares of Thakurbaba Municipality-5 Chandak Chatiya Community Forest Area were cleared last year alone.
He said that this happened because even though the forest department had cleared the encroached forest areas earlier, people were living in the same place again and the forest department was not able to monitor them properly. Chief Subedi informed that now the encroached forest areas can be cleared and the activities taking place in the forest area can be monitored with drones from a distance of 3/4 kilometers.
