JHAPA: The District Forest Office Jhapa has handed over six forests in the district to the local community, as community forest.

The government, under its forest protection policy, has been handing over community forest to the forest users group that fulfill the required criteria, Chief of the District Forest Office, Jhapa Indramani Bhandari said.

According to Bhandari, the Bishal forest in Prithivinagar-3, Hariyali in Jalthal, Triveni in Pathariya and the Pathibhara Kalika community forest in Triveni, Durgabhitta and Jalthal are the new forest users group taking charge of the community forests.

Along with this, the number of community forests handed over to the local community in Jhapa has reached 48, while another 11 are in the process of handover.