Chatiban VDC of Makwanpur district has been declared the country’s first open cattle grazing free zone. The District Forest Office (DFO) Makwanpur made the declaration this week with the aim to prevent soil erosion caused by rampant cattle grazing.
The DFO organized awareness programs in the VDC with the support from community forest user groups before making the declaration public. There are altogether 21 community forest user groups and 31 leasehold forest groups. Each user groups had organized public awareness program in their respective areas and informed locals about the adverse effects of cattle grazing in the forest. DFO has also prohibited the locals from leaving their cattle in the forest. “We made the deceleration in order to discourage locals from grazing their cattle in the forest,” an official at DFO said at the declaration ceremony. According to DFO, there are 33,153 livestock in the VDC, while the forest is spread in 10,254 hectares of land.
Radio Wagling to get UNESCO support
Radio Waling of Syangja district has been selected to receive grant assistance worth $ 15,000 from the UNESCO. The community radio running with an objective of promoting balanced ecology, clean environment and organic farming has been producing and broadcasting programs with special focus on environmental conservation. The assistance has been given for enhancing the skills of the manpower in this radio, according to Jaleshwor Pandey, chairman of the station.
Bhola Thapa new KU registrar
Chancellor of the Kathmandu University and chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi has appointed Dr. Bhola Thapa as Registrar of the university for four years. Thapa had been working as dean of the university’s engineering department.
Rotary journalism award
Various journalists have been given away this year’s Rotary journalism award. Kiran Nepal, editor of Himal Khabarpatrika weekly, has been recognized for his contribution to journalism with focus on economy while others being felicitated with the award were Raju Silwal (environment), Ekraj Pathak (Education) and Basanti Bastola (women and community development). The Prizes carry a purse of Rs. 25,000 each.
Poets win ANA festival
Nepali Literature Academy, North America has awarded the poets who came out winners in the Fourth International Nepali Poem Festival held this week.
Padam Gautam of Morang bagged the $1000 worth NM Subhadra Bhanubhakta Kabya Puraskar while Harimaya Bhetwal of Kathmandu and Ishwarmani Adhikari of Pokhara came out second and third respectively and won $300 worth Sharma Mudvari Motiram Kabya Puraskar and $200 worth Basundhara Ganesh Roka Devkota Puraskar. The three poets were selected as winners from 227 poems received in the festival from Nepalese living in 18 countries.
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