A video showing forest office staff pushing a roadside tempo, a small three-wheeled vehicle, off a cliff in Godawari Municipality of Kailali has gone viral on social media, drawing widespread criticism from the public and lawmakers.

The incident occurred on Saturday. In the footage, employees of the Division Forest Office, Dhangadhi, are seen removing the vehicle before it is shoved off a roadside slope.

Locals said the tempo belonged to 44-year-old Dhanadevi Dhami of ward 4 in Godawari Municipality, who used it to run a small roadside business near Gaimare Danda along the Bhimdatta Highway. She said she had repeatedly pleaded with the officials to let her take the vehicle home.

“They first removed all the goods. Even when I requested them to let me take it home and said I would not sell there again, they did not listen and pushed it off the cliff,” Dhami said. “People around were filming the incident, but no one stopped it.”

Dhami said she had been earning a livelihood by selling tea, eggs, noodles and water from the vehicle, with daily earnings of around Rs4,000 to Rs5,000. She added that her sons are currently working in Bengaluru, India, while she lives with her husband and elder daughter-in-law.

However, the forest office defended the action, saying it was part of an ongoing anti-encroachment campaign.

Krishna Bohara, chief of the Sub-Division Forest Office, Attariya, said the vehicle had already been removed a month earlier. “It was not a functional transport vehicle. She was using a scrap tempo as a makeshift structure to run a shop,” he said.

Officials said 47 structures have been removed so far under the anti-encroachment drive in the area.

The incident has triggered debate, with critics arguing that authorities should have seized the vehicle and initiated legal proceedings instead of disposing of it in such a manner.