Ban on timber sale hits poor households

DHANGADI, JANUARY 5

Consumers have been facing problems after the federal government banned the sale and distribution of timber in Kailali.

The government had banned the sale and distribution of timber on May 28 following a dispute among stakeholders in relation to implementing the scientific forest programme. Seven months have passed since the ban was put in place and poor households are now facing the burnt as they depend on firewood to cook food.

Community and national forest have a huge amount of timber in stock, but the locals have been deprived of it due to the ban.

Kailali’s Phulbari-based Bharatlal Partnership Forest Coordinator Yadav Bhandari said they had protested against the decision.

He said consumers had demanded that the ban on sale and distribution of timber be lifted at the earliest.

Bhandari said they were compelled to buy timber from smugglers.

Timber smuggling has increased in Kailali and Kanchanpur of late. Construction of new houses has also been affected due to the ban.

Chief at Forest Division Office, Dhangadi, Ram Chandra Kandel, said they could not sell timber due to the federal government’s ban. He said revenue collection had also dropped following the same and the timber piled up for sale had started decaying.

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