DHANUSHA: Former President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has said the government at all three levels should take the issue of Chure deforestation seriously since it is a national problem.

In his address to an interaction programme on "Clean Janakpur Green Janakpur and Chure Conservation" held at Janakpur-based Siddhartha Sishu Sadan, Nepal's first president underlined the need of taking the responsibility for the conservation of the Chure by the central, provincial and local governments.

"They all are the responsible for deforestation of Chure as well," he added.

He went on to say that development should not be the cause of destruction and the road construction projects aimed to serve the meaning of development had triggered the rampant degradation of the Chure region.

The duties and responsibilities for controlling of exploitation of natural resources like rivers and forest areas and development of illegal settlement with the fresh tree transplantation and conservation of the Chure's hilly areas are of the governments at all levels, according to the former President. People residing in the Chure should be encouraged to contribute to the conservation efforts.

As he stated, the current need was that efforts from the government-level from center to the local- were necessary to plant new trees in the forest area, to control encroachment on rivers and remove river-based crusher industries. "Tarai is gradually turning vulnerable to a severe crisis of drinking water due to the Chure deforestation which has pushed it towards the risk of floods and dryness.

On the occasion, Dr Yadav distributed cloth bags to the participants as a symbol to discourage the use of plastic bags so as to support the "Clean Janakpur, Green Janakpur" campaign successful.