HoR meeting: Tiger menace draws lawmakers' concern

Kathmandu, Feb 9: The country has witnessed a rising number of human-wildlife conflicts in recent time. In the wake of such conflicts, the federal lawmakers have shown serious concern over the tiger menace.     

In the meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Sunday, the lawmakers wondered: "How long the people are forced to bear the brunt of tiger menace?" Speaking at an emergency hour of the HoR meeting, the lawmakers demanded the government that it took concrete efforts to control tiger attack.     

They became vocal against insufficient security to protect people in Bardiya, as the tigers coming from Bardiya National Park (BNP) were killing locals.     

Shanta Chaudhary viewed the locals from the villages adjacent to BNP were becoming preys to tiger. She drew government's attention to provide adequate safety to the people. "The man-eaters have killed villagers while working in fields. I strongly urge the government to prepare a scientific plan to address this serious problem, and provide free treatment to the injured and relief to those who lost family members in the tiger attacks."     

Javeda Khatun also reminded the horrible incident occurred some days back that a 51-year-old woman was killed by a leopard come from BNP in Bardiya district. She wondered why government was not paying heed to resolve this problem.     

"How long the people are forced to face such terror and lose lives in Bardiya?" She wondered, demanding government to make its view clear on it.     

Similarly, Arjun Narsing KC said a national park was facing wildfire for a week, posing serious threat to biodiversity. He sought government's concrete actions to resolve this problem. According to him, the coordinated efforts from all three-tiers of government could be put in place to face such common problem.     

Thakur Prasad Gaire demanded information to the lawmakers on the fire incident occurred at Ministry of Drinking Water, Singha Durbar.     

Hit Bahadur Tamang also questioned government's inefficient efforts to prevent and douse wildfires occurred in the Langtang National Park. Endangered animals and plant species would face extinct with the fire, he warned.     

Bindabashini Kangsakar blamed that government's preparedness were ineffective.     

Other issues that surfaced in the meeting were fire incident in Salyan district, non-implementation of inclusive policy, and removal of assistant level employees in government offices.(RSS)