How much of the park's encroached area is there? The park's borders have been altered to recognize encroachment.
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Chitwan National Park has issued a 15-day notice to vacate the encroached area. The notice issued by the park office on Tuesday states that if the encroachment is not resolved within the time limit, a fine of double the amount of the fine and one year in prison will be imposed. If the fine is not resolved, a fine of up to 20,000 rupees, imprisonment for up to 6 months, or both imprisonment and fine will be imposed.
The problem of encroachment has been present in Chitwan National Park for a long time. The park has been calling the entire old settlement of Bandarjhula, now called Hanumanjhula, in the southern part of the park an encroached area. People from different districts have started moving there since 2047 BS. During the crisis, the settlement was lifted in the winter of 2058 BS, but they started living again later.
‘I have heard that the notice has been issued. The park has been branding us as encroachers.’ So it seems like such information is targeted at us,' said Jagram Praja Chepang, a resident of Bandarjhula. He said that after understanding more about the information, a meeting of locals will be held on Thursday and Friday to take forward the program according to what the park is going to do.
Jagram's family came to the place in 2050 BS. He said that he came to Bandarjhula in search of a place to live after a flood and landslide swept away everyone from Makawanpur. This settlement is about 75 kilometers west-southwest of the district headquarters Bharatpur. To reach this settlement, which is located in the foothills of Thori in Parsa district, one has to cross 18 kilometers of forest from Madi to Bagai. The road to the settlement is not good. There is also no electricity.
'Before the elections, all the candidates of the main parties came to seek votes. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sobita Gautam also came. She also became a minister after winning. He had said that he would make sure to arrange roads and electricity. We are waiting for that,' Jagram said. He said he hopes that the election promise will not be forgotten after forming the government.
Senior Conservation Officer Ganesh Pant, who is the head of Chitwan National Park, said that the park has planned to clear encroachments by setting priorities. 'In the first phase, we will remove temporary tents.' If they have done business in such structures but are not living there, we have a plan to remove them at the beginning,' said Chief Pant.
In the second phase, those who have land elsewhere but have encroached on the park and the buffer zone and have built structures will be removed, said Pant. 'We have to prepare a little about what to do in large and old places like Bandarjhula. There are also two or four such settlements. What to do with them has not been decided yet. This is in the third phase,' said Pant. There are five to seven hundred houses in Bandarjhula.
‘In our ward number 13 of Khairhani, the notice of the park has also made the residents wonder what will happen. But I request them not to panic. The settlement here is old. It has been settled since 2040,’ said Kul Prasad Bhusal, ward chairman of Khairhani Municipality-13. He said that there are five hundred such households in ward number 13 alone.
How much is the encroached area of the park?
As mentioned in the annual report of Chitwan National Park for the fiscal year 2069/70, 1,16 hectares of land in the park has been encroached. Senior Conservation Officer Ganesh Pant, who is the current head of the park, said that about 1,100 hectares of land have been encroached. The annual report for the fiscal year 2069/70 mentions that 451 hectares of land has been encroached on in Bandarjhula. The report details that 114 hectares of land in the Makawanpur Sunachuri area have been encroached on. The park has been encroached on in Ayodhyapuri, Gardi, Patihani, Meghauli, Gitanagar of Chitwan, Kumarbarti, Narayani, Dibyapuri, Mukundapur of Nawalparasi, and Thori and Nirmalbasti of Parsa district. As mentioned in the annual report for the fiscal year 2069/70, 421 hectares of land have been encroached on in this place.
The boundaries of the park have been changed to recognize the encroachment.
Chitwan National Park touches four districts: Chitwan, Nawalparasi (East of Bardaghat Susta), Parsa, and Makawanpur. Details of encroachments in some large and small areas in these districts were mentioned in the annual report of the park. The annual report for the fiscal year 2069/70 mentions that 15 hectares of land in the Nawalparasi Gajgrah post area of the park has been encroached.
Swami Kamal Nayanacharya, popularly known as Muktinath Baba, has built magnificent physical structures including a temple and a Vidyapeeth in the area. Official publications issued by the park used to mention that the area was encroached and that the encroachment in the Gajgrah area was protected by the ‘accessors’. An assistant of the ashram was arrested by the Chitwan Park administration in 2072 BS.
The Council of Ministers meeting held on 5th Shrawan 2073 BS had changed the boundaries of the Chitwan Park and placed the Gajgrah area outside the park boundaries. The Council of Ministers led by the then Prime Minister KP Oli had decided to include 21 square kilometers of land in Padampur village, which was transferred from Chitwan National Park, in the park area.
It was also decided to make 37 hectares of land in the Gajgraha area of Triveni, in the western part of the park, a buffer zone outside the park boundary and make it a religious forest. The ashram area was thus moved outside the park boundary to protect it from encroachment. Despite repeated attempts to reclaim other areas used by locals, the park has not been successful.
