Rajbiraj, November 13

Former president Ram Baran Yadav expressed concern about the rate in which the Churiya range was being ravaged and the attendant consequences.

Speaking at a programme organised to hand over newly-built houses to Dalits in a Musahar settlement in Saptari’s Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality today, the former president pointed out the threat of desertification in the southern plain resulting from the destruction of the Chure range.

“Besides rapid deforestation, haphazard use of dozers in the Chure range in the name of development doesn’t augur well as it is sure to cause desertification and severe water scarcity in the plains in the long run if not now,” he said.

Further, the former president also said that political parties of the country should practise the politics of consensus rather than engage in a competition to ensure development and prosperity in the country.

“If we want to see the country develop and prosper, political parties must learn to move ahead hand-in-hand forgetting all their partisan divides and interests,” he said, adding that any form of restriction on press freedom would only serve to weaken democracy.

Some 35 Dalit families, whose houses were destroyed by floods last year, were provided with newly constructed houses today. The houses were constructed in coordination with News 24 TV channel.