Locals want buffer zone problems addressed at the earliest

Nawalpur (Nawalparasi), Dec 3 : A team of the Federal Parliament has begun consultations with the stakeholders in the district after the locals of Nawalparsi (Bardaghat-Susta Purba) started calls for revocation of the buffer zone.    

The parliamentary team under the leadership of Dil Kumari Rawal, the president of the National Concern and Coordination Committee under the National Assembly, has stated that it will suggest to the government to amend the National Parks Act.    

Committee president Rawal said the government would be suggested to amend the Act as the government only amended the Regulations without revising the Act. She added that the committee's recommendation to the government would be supported by locals' opinion as well.    

"We have emphasized on making the old Acts timely, in consonance with the new governance system and the federalism. If the government does not bring the bill for amending the Act, the committee shall move ahead works on amending the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 2029 through a private bill.    

Stating that the laws enforced in the country should be based on research, the Upper House lawmaker shared that the 348 Acts promulgated by the Federal Parliament were currently under implementation in the country.  

  
Committee president Rawal opined that the laws related to the national park and buffer zone were ambiguous and the National Assembly would express its concern on such topics and exert pressure to the government to amend the Act.    

Committee president Rawal underscored that the Act issued by the government should be tested and all legislations should be in the interest of the people and the nation. She shared on the occasion that the National Assembly has amended over 80 percent of the laws in the last five years.    

The committee held discussions with and collected the views and suggestions from the people's representatives, park representatives, the buffer zone management committee, political parties, tourism entrepreneurs, conservationists and representatives of community forest committee, organising a programme at Amaltari, Kawasoti-15 in Nawalpur.    

Most of the participants of the discussion shared that construction of physical infrastructures and development works have been impeded in Nawalpur due to the Act and the Buffer Zone Management Regulations, 2052, and a big problem has arisen in the livelihood of the locals here.    

Locals said the people living in settlements near the buffer zone were facing distress and many difficulties due to the discriminatory laws, including the Act and Regulations.   

 
Kawasoti Municipality mayor Bishnu Prasad Bhusal said the locals have voiced to remove the buffer zone due to the various legal hurdles created in the buffer zone. He called for making the conservation people-friendly by amending the Act and Regulations. Mayor Bhusal said the laws related to compensation were also discriminatory.    

According to him, many people in Nawalpur were displaced from their homes as the Narayani river forming the boundary of the park started eroding land towards Nawalpur and changed its course, and the Park started laying claim on the land of the locals who have the land-ownership papers.    

He added that the displaced people have not yet got relief and compensation for their land.    
Hari Prasad Neupane of Devchuli Municipality said the people have raised voice demanding scrapping the buffer zone as they have been inconvenienced by the same park and the buffer zone which were being conserved with their support.     

"People's aversion towards buffer zone has grown as the ground level of river bed and banks of streams and rivulets flowing through the buffer zone have become elevated and the human settlements are at a lower elevation and suffer from flooding, since the people are not allowed to extract sand, stones and other river based materials," he said.    

Neupane suggested giving the local government the responsibility of looking after the quarrying of river-based materials and believed that doing this would make the locals aware on conservation and protection of the buffer zone.    

Deputy mayor of Gaindakot Municipality, Shanti Koirala urged the authorities to remove Gaindakot from the buffer zone as the buffer zone has troubled the people and created obstructions in the construction of physical infrastructures in the area. 

   
Similarly, Chair of Binayi Tribeni rural municipality Ghanashyam Giri and conservationist and central president of Homestay Federation Nepal, Prem Shankar Mardaniya suggested for judicious sharing of the revenues generated from the park and for linking conservation with the people's livelihoods.    

The participants drew the attention of the committee towards various problems they were facing, such as difficulty in carrying out their traditional occupations, not being allowed to chop even a dead tree standing in their own land, and obstruction in construction of infrastructures like roads and other structures, among others. (RSS)