According to the patrol´s coordinator Ram Bahadur Lama, a special patrol recently set up by users of Udayapur Community Forest to curb timber smuggling seized the timber.
The timber was being ferried in a vehicle that bore the name of Bethan Smriti Brigade, Third Divission of the Maoist army. The vehicle and the timber have been kept at the community forest office.
Forest encroachment up in Chitwan
Encroachers have intensified the land grab drive in Chitwan in recent days.
According to the district´s deputy forest officer Bishnu Paudel, they have encroached on hundreds of hectares of forest land from Ganesthan to Garda of Bharatpur recently.
So far, 1,470 hectares of land has been encroached on in Chitwan, Paudel added. The encroachers include landless squatters as well as people who own their own plots. Forest areas including Ganestha, Aaptari, Padampur, Shaktikhor, Gardas, Pipaltar, Lothar, Piple, and Kabilas, among others, are facing encroachment, said the District Forest Office.
According to Paudel, nearly 2,000 landless squatters have settled in these areas. This has also led to a rise in timber smuggling in the areas. Locals claim connivance between political leaders and security personnel have led to the rise in timber smuggling.
This has also threatened wildlife in the forest, said Local Development Officer Kumar Bahadur Khadka. He added that as the problem of the squatters cannot be solved locally, officials haven´t taken steps to evict them.
“If we take action, we will be under pressure from political parties to retract,” said Maheshwar Neupane, Chief District Officer of Chitwan. Around 44,936 hectares of forest is under the jurisdiction of Chitwan Forest Office.
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