Gaurighat Community Forest in Kaluwapur, Krishnapur Municipality-7, Kanchanpur has become a desert after more than 150 trees were cut down in a short period of time in a bid to grab land.

Hundreds of Sisau, Khayar and Kanju trees in the forest spread over an area of ​​about 10 hectares were felled in the 'Phalmi style'. Now, only a few trees can be seen on the edge of the forest.

The community forest, which is surrounded by gravel roads, has been continuously felled since its establishment. This community forest, which looks like an abandoned forest, has been used for weddings, wedding ceremonies, cremations and forest feasts since the past.

Hundreds of trees in the community forest were destroyed in one and a half hours at noon on November 21. The locals cut down the trees in a hurry, leaving some in the forest. All this happened in a movie style in one and a half hours. Now the community forest looks like barren land.

So, whether it was when the ward office was built in the community forest or when the basic health post under construction was built, the community forest officials had no information . Neither did the users' committee show any interest in such construction work .

The people's representatives also did not consider it necessary to inquire about the physical construction with the community forest  ‘We don’t know who cut it down, why, we are also looking for the person,’ said Bohora, ‘We haven’t found anything yet.’

It seems mysterious that even the community forest officials, forest office employees and people’s representatives were unaware of the fact that trees were being cut down in broad daylight from the community forest in the middle of the settlement. The ward 7 office is also within the community forest.

The employees of the nearby subdivision forest office were also unaware of this. They only found out about the deforestation after the issue went viral on social media. "We only came to know about it the next day after the police informed us," said Suresh Chandra DC, head of the Division Forest Office, Kanchanpur. "It seems that there is collusion between the people's representatives and the locals. If not, why did the people's representatives remain silent about the deforestation that took place near the ward office?" He alleged that the deforestation was carried out in collusion between the locals and the people's representatives to destroy the community forest land.

The Division Forest Office has appointed Bharat Shah, Chief Forest Officer of the Sub-Division Forest Office, Bani, as the investigation officer. Shah said that they are working to determine the number of trees cut down, recover some wood, and take statements from community forest officials. ‘The work of taking statements from the chairman and secretary of the community forest has been completed, and others are also in progress,’ Shah said, ‘Some of the felled timber has also been recovered.’ According to Shah, 135 trees of 16- to 84-inch thick Khair, 28 trees of 24- to 64-inch thick Sisau, and 1 tree of Kanju have been felled.’

According to Shah, 61 logs of 11.55 cubic feet Khair and 41 logs of 81.03 cubic feet Sisau have also been recovered. Other timber is also being searched for. ‘It seems that the land of the community forest is being destroyed more than the timber, many things will be revealed through the investigation,’ Shah said, ‘Even now, no one in the village has agreed to talk about deforestation, even the officials of the community forest have refused to speak on the matter, he said.’

In 2055, the locals planted trees and grew a forest in the Bagar area on the banks of the Mohana River. After that, when there were occasional attempts to encroach on the forest in the name of squatters and freed Kamaiyas, the locals chased them away. In 2062, the forest was registered and handed over to the community. The first action plan for the community forest was prepared in the fiscal year 2075/076.

The current committee has not held a single meeting or general assembly in 3 years. The previous committee is also inactive, according to locals. Recently, preparations are being made to open a technical college in the area with an investment of about one and a half billion. Krishnapur Municipality has also studied and monitored this issue several times. Forest workers say that land mafias may have hatched a plan to deforest and destroy the land, seeing that the price of land will increase after the establishment of the technical college.