442 Hectares of Encroached Forest Land Cleared in Madhesh Province

Janakpurdham. 442 hectares of forest land encroached upon for years in various districts of Madhesh Province have been cleared in the last fiscal year 2081/82. According to the Directorate of Forest, Madhesh Province, Janakpurdham, the concerned forest offices have issued notices to clear and reclaim more encroached forest land.

According to the details received from the Directorate, land has been reclaimed in Dhanusha with 30 hectares, Sarlahi with 175 hectares, Saptari with 111 hectares, Bara with 54 hectares, Parsa with 45 hectares, Rautahat with 12 hectares, Siraha with 10 hectares, and Mahottari with three hectares of forest land.

Cultivation, shed construction, hotel and shop operations, and even housing construction were taking place on the encroached forest land. Jagannath Prasad Jaiswal, Director of the Directorate, informed that 16,599 hectares of land in all eight districts of Madhesh Province are still under encroachment. He stated that the process of clearing the encroached forest land has begun and requires everyone's cooperation.

The provincial government has stated that it has been making efforts to resolve the problem of long-encroached forest land. Director Jaiswal mentioned that since the administrative mechanism alone cannot solve this, political and local coordination is necessary, and work is being done in that direction.

Currently, although 45 percent of Nepal's land area is covered by forests, only 3.72 percent of the land area in Madhesh Province is covered by forest. Out of a total of 202,202 hectares of forest land across the province, 89 out of 136 local levels do not have any forest area.

Of this, eight percent of the total forest area in Madhesh is under encroachment.