• Four villages with around 700 households will be relocated

Kathmandu, April 4

Residents of Mulkharka, Chilaune and Okhreni villages in Shivapuri Nagarjuna National Park area are living in constant fear of an uncertain future these days.

According to Narayan Shrestha, president of Sundarijal-Shivapuri Buffer Zone User Committee, locals fear possible relocation similar to the incident 28 years ago when settlements in Tare Bhir, Sytalmati, Khasrubaas, Borlang Bhanjyang and Kune were relocated.

Around 107 households were shifted from the villages after the then Shivapuri Watershed Project decided to remove human settlements in Shivapuri watershed area.

“Though the move was halted following the fall of the Panchayat system and rise of multi-party democracy, the government has revived the plan again,” Shrestha told The Himalayan Times.

He said the government should provide proper compensation and suitable land for new settlements if all villagers agreed to shift from the area.

“Locals need land and compensation to build new houses,” he said.

According to the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, the move is a preliminary step towards managing the national park. “This move is aimed at conserving the wildlife and preventing human-wildlife conflict.”

Information Officer at DNPWC, Narayan Rupakheti, said, the resettlement programme would be moved ahead only with the consent of the locals.

As per the plan, four villages of National Park’s core area  — Mulkharka, Chilaune, Okhreni and Kune — with approximately 700 households in Gokarneshwor municipality would be relocated.

According to Shivapuri-Nagarjuna National Park, a task force has been formed to relocate the settlements of inside National Park area.

The task force has already begun preliminary study for implementation of the plan.

After receiving a letter from the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation on January 26, 2017, Shivapuri-Nagarjuna National Park had conducted first consultation with locals on March 7 last month.

A team led by Chief Conservation Officer of Shivapuri-Nagarjuna National Park, Kamal Jung Kunwar, had suggested possible relocation of the villages to Nayapati VDC, Gagalphedi, Jagdole and Sundarijal.