Gugauli, June 17:

District Forest Office, Kapilvastu, today torched 87 sheds constructed by encroaching upon the forest area at Asannara of Gugauli VDC-3. The action was taken following an all-party meeting to demolish the illegal constructions.

A total of 30 hectares of forest land was encroached upon, forest office said.

Earlier the office had issued notices to the encroachers thrice to vacate the land, but to no avail. The harsh step was taken after the notices were ignored, said district forest officer Ramanandan Shah.

A local Bethu Tharu said there was no retaliation as belongings had already been taken out from the sheds before setting fire.