Katari (Udayapur), July 23:

Udayapur Cement Factory (UCF) has been facing a shortage of raw material after locals did not allow cutting down trees in the forest area — the source of red soil — saying it would lead to deforestation. The factory needs to fell Sal trees on 60 hectares of the Rajdevi community forest area located in Triyuga municipality-11 to take out the needed red soil.

Noting that it was essential to use red soil from the forest area as raw material, a three-member committee formed under the chairmanship of Chief District Officer (CDO) Dullu Raj Basnet started cleaning up the area three months back. However, the factory hands were prevented them from felling the trees after saplings around the area that were meant to be protected got destroyed, said chairperson of the Forest Users’ Committee Laxmi Chaudhari.

Locals lodged a complaint claiming that the trees were cut down without providing prior information to the committee.