Reversing Chure encroachment difficult

By Yadav Raj Puri Rautahat, May 6: The management of forests in the Chure and National Forest areas in Rautahat has become a difficult task as landless and homeless people are staying there for many years and government agencies are facing a hard time removing them from the area.

Although the President-Chure Tarai Madhes Conservation Development Committee has been conducting various programmes for the conservation of the Chure, the task of clearing the encroached areas has become a herculean task.

There are more than 4,200 households in the encroached area. There is a big challenge to evacuate the 20,000 population from the area, according to Amar Dev Yadav, Forest Officer at the Division Forest Office, Rautahat.

It is believed that the settlement was established by different political parties to gain votes in elections taking advantage of the fragile political situation during and after the armed conflict. 

The Chure area is an environmentally vulnerable, fragile and sensitive zone with rivers originating from the Mahabharata range flowing towards the Terai. And in such a sensitive coastal area of ​​Chure, expansive encroachment by the settlers, a number of whom are cultivating crops there, have put the region in peril. 

Stakeholders are of the view that illegal exploitation of riverine substances in the river flowing through the Chure has exacerbated the crisis.

According to the records of the Division Forest Office, the forest covers about 29,400 hectares of the total land area in ​​the district, out of which 3,200 to 3,300 hectares of forest land, including the coastal area of the ​​Chure, has been encroached.

According to Yadav, on the one hand, the government has enacted an act to manage the forest by clearing the encroached land under the critical President-Chure Conservation Programme in line with the concept of conserving the Chure; on the other, it is difficult to remove settlements from the area as the locals are protecting the encroachers by calling them landless and squatters. It is understood that the parties with vested interests have given protection to the encroachers.

An official of the Committee alleged that no one has helped to clear the encroached land because of political interference, despite the opinion of the civil society, politicians from across the political spectrum and other stakeholders that the encroachers should clear the area.

The timber smuggling, deforestation, encroachment and high exploitation of riverine resources are increasing day by day.

Expressing deep concerns, Ram Chandra Chaudhary, former mayor of Chandrapur Municipality, said that if the Chure encroachment was not stopped, the people of the Terai would one day face major natural calamities like floods, landslides and soil erosion.

Meanwhile, Yadav said that forest management in the area would be easier only if the encroachers could be shifted outside the Chure area. 

Spread over 36 districts from East Ilam to West Kanchanpur in Nepal, the Chure covers 12.78 per cent of the total land area. 

The local administration has stated that full assistance will be provided if assistance is sought to remove the encroachers by monitoring the encroached area.