Ten Settlements in Dang Recommended for Relocation from Banke National Park Buffer Zone

Dang. A recommendation has been made to relocate ten settlements located within Dang's Bheri Rural Municipality, which falls inside the Banke National Park. The recommendation is to relocate ten settlements from Wards No. 1 and 7 of the Bheri Rural Municipality, which lie within the National Park, to safer locations.

Rural Municipality Chairman Kul Bahadur Khatri recently made this recommendation to the National Park. Chairman Khatri stated that the settlements of Kiureni, Banchare, Batule, Gauje, Jila, Simalkuna, Dadagaun, Kaptane, Jaljala, and Malai in the municipality should be relocated from within the National Park to other safe places.

Although human settlements existed in those areas more than 50 years before Banke National Park was declared, the Chairman stated that citizens face significant hardship because the area now falls within the National Park's buffer zone. "Because that area falls within the National Park's buffer zone, wild animals from the National Park cause damage to human life, domestic animals, and crops," he said. "However, since the residents of that area have no alternative but to live in a risky location, and because the area is a National Park, they are deprived of the facilities provided by the state as budgets cannot be arranged for infrastructure development from the three tiers of government. Therefore, there is no alternative but to move the settlements from there."

Chairman Khatri stated that relocating the settlements is necessary to ensure the safety of the lives and property of the affected citizens residing in that area, to provide access to services and facilities available from the state to the citizens, and to maintain the buffer zone of the National Park. The affected citizens, angered, had even decided not to vote in the upcoming House of Representatives election. Currently, due to the citizens' protest in that area, no candidate has gone there to ask for votes. In the past, most candidates used to visit that very place to seek votes. There is no easy access to road networks there. The phone also does not work properly. Even when wild animals destroy crops, it is not possible to touch them.