Anyone passing through the highway can smell the burning of dry woods and shrubs inside the forest of Bara and Rautahat. From Rautahat´s bridge no 3 to the Bagamati bridge, forest fires are burning in dozens of places but the forest officials have remained indifferent to the problem, a local in Bara informed. [break]
Locals shared they have seen forest fires in the same area up to three times a year. "These fires have been causing huge losses to the forests but authorities have not interevened so far," said Narendra Patel, the chief of a forest users´ group in Bishrampur VDC of Rautahat.
Records at the District Forests Offices (DFO) in Bara and Rautahat show that forest fire have destroyed over half of the total forest cover in the districts. In Bara the situation is much worst and timber worth millions of rupees are lost to fire every year, informed Patel.
"All the timber stacked up in the forests are destroyed in fire every year. And rare trees and plant species are being threatened," said Rakesh Karna, under secretary at the District Forest Office, Bara.
In Rautahat, almost a quarter of the total forest area of 29,400 hectares has been destroyed by fire, informed Chief of Rautahat District Forest Office Nandalal Yadav.
According to the forest officers, the East-West Highway cutting through the forests has increased human movement in the area and this has invited such calamities through human error. "People throw cigarette butts and burning match sticks near the forest.
Likewise, poachers use fire and smoke to agitate the wild animals and children too are responsible for fire incidents as they play by setting fire to dry shrubs. So humans are the main responsible for such fires," said Karna.
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