A CIAA team during inspection found that around 1,200 trees -- each with 100-150 cubic feet of timber -- have been cut illegally in over a dozen community forests in the region. Following the revelation, the CIAA team confiscated documents from around 130 community forests.[break]
“We will investigate further after taking the documents to Kathmandu and take action against the guilty,” said coordinator of the team and CIAA joint-secretary Krishna Prasad Dhungana. “Government employees would be dealt with first and only then would others be punished,” Dhungana added.
The team is currently stranded in Kanchanpur following heavy snowfall in Dadeldhura. It will inspect more forests after the weather improves.
“We have evidence that District Forest Office, Dadeldhura arbitrarily transferred the forests to community users. The forests have been transferred with the intention of selling timber,” he revealed.
“The community forests have been formed far away from human settlements with the sole purpose of selling timber,” he stated. “The consumers have also formed community forests just to sell timbers,” he added.
The CIAA found that trees were chopped recently despite no such orders over the past one year.
“We have found that recently cut trees have been daubed with clay to the impression that the trees have been cut long ago,” he said. The team had found 64 freshly cut sal trees in Durga Bhagawati Community Forest alone.
The CIAA said the main purpose of opening tracks in Chure region was to transport timbers. Twelve kilometers of road have been dug in Ganesh Community Forest and six kilometers of road has been constructed through Shahid Smriti Community Forest in Kanchanpur.
The CIAA team had come to Far West for investigation on January 3 after media reports about forest depletion in Chure region.
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