Trees including Khayar and Sisau have been felled in Gaurighat Community Forest located in Krishnapur Municipality-7 of Kanchanpur.
What you should know
Most of the trees have been felled in the Gaurighat Community Forest in Krishnapur Municipality-7 of Kanchanpur.
In the 10-hectare community forest, 139 trees including Khayar, Sisau and Kanju were felled. ‘It seems that a large number of people came and felled the trees within an hour on Thursday afternoon,’ said Suresh Chandra DC, head of the Division Forest Office, Kanchanpur. ‘Some trees have been removed, some have been left in the forest.’
The Division Forest Office is investigating who felled the trees. Bharat Shah, head of the Sub-Division Forest Office, Bani, has been appointed as the investigation officer.
‘It seems that the locals felled the trees, but it is yet to be revealed who is involved,’ said DC, head of the Division Forest Office, ‘We are in search of the main person who felled the forest.’ He said that he has summoned officials including the chairperson of the Community Forest, Kumari Bohora, and instructed them to take action against those involved in the felling. He said that if no action is taken, the Division Forest Office will take the action process forward.
The DC could not contact the chairman of the community forest, Bohora. He said that he came to the Division Forest Office and stated that he could not take action against those involved in the felling.
There are settlements all around the community forest. The DC said that the locals are trying to turn the forest into a settlement. He said that some people's representatives are also intent on this. The people's representatives said that they are trying to expand the market in the community forest.
Ward Chairman of Krishnapur Municipality-7, Ghumman Rana, responded that the felling occurred because there was no fence in the community forest and the committee was also inactive. He said that there is no information about how and under whose direction the forest was felled.
Krishnapur Municipality Chief Hemraj Ojha said that the community forest has been in an unoccupied state for a long time. He says that trees are cut from the same forest for everything from weddings to funerals. 'We used to take firewood from the same forest for picnics,' said Mayor Ojha. 'We are preparing to open a technical college in the said area, and the forest has been cut down to make it controversial.'
Mayor Ojha said that the forest was encroached on a decade ago. 'Even now, the committee was inactive, there was no watchman,' he said. 'More than half of the trees had already been stolen and smuggled in the past.'
