Parties' nod to evict encroachers

SINDHULIMADHI: An all-party meeting held at District Forest Office Sindhuli today agreed to assist the DFO to check forest encroachment in Ranibas and Nipane village development committees.

People displaced by the Kamala river have been residing in the forest area. Lokraj Nepal, acting DFO, said the office had been facing difficulties in relocating the encroachers due to the lack of help from political parties. Dirgharaj Shrestha, leader, UCPN-Maoist, claimed that rich people had also encroached the forest in the name of landless squatters.

Opining that those who had already settled should be allowed to stay there, he added, ‘’But we should not allow new settlers in the area.’’ This is the first time the local parties agreed to assist the DFO in stopping such kind of encroachment.