Laligurans Municipality in Tehrathum district has been constructing a park, a museum building, a pond, roads, a picnic spot, a playground, among other infrastructure, inside the Deurali Bhulkedhara Namuna Community Forest in Basantapur Bazaar.

Dil Bahadur Subedi, a local man who also operates a hotel in Ghurmise, Tinjure, said that the government has been building the infrastructure inside the community forest area without abiding by the legal procedures. “The locals have filed a complaint against the municipality. We understand infrastructure development is necessary but the efforts should be on drinking water projects, irrigation and road construction. Construction of infrastructure inside the forests is useless and can do irreversible damage to the forest and its resources,” he said.

According to the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), authorities cannot construct infrastructure in forestlands owned by the communities. Ganesh Sen, district chairman of FECOFUN, said that the construction of such infrastructure inside the forest area stands to drain the forest of its natural beauty and resources.

In Province 1, it’s not just the local governments that are involved in the hurried construction of infrastructure. The provincial government too is constructing foot trails, view towers, ponds and other infrastructure in Chaite, Magrapokhari and Pathibhara forest areas.

Ramakant Yadav, assistant forest officer at the Division Forest Office in Basantapur, said that the forestlands have been encroached by government authorities. The government has been constructing infrastructure without consulting the forest users, committees and forest office, he said. “This has directly affected the wetlands, the biodiversity the forests hold and wildlife habitat. Water sources are also drying up due to such activities.”

According to Laligurans Municipality, the municipality plans to boost tourism by constructing infrastructure in public spaces and forestlands. Arjun Mabohang, mayor of the municipality, said that they have endorsed an act and published the same in the government gazette. He said, “The municipality intends to only use unused land for tourism purposes.”

Laxman Tiwari, a provincial lawmaker, believes that such activities and infrastructure development inside the forest areas and unused public spaces will support their vision for Visit Nepal 2020. He said, “We plan to construct infrastructure without destroying the forest resources. There’s a legal provision to use five percent of the forestland for ecotourism development and we are doing just that.”

However, Suresh Kumar Singh, Divisional Forest Officer, said that local and provincial governments have not coordinated with the Division Forest Office while constructing permanent infrastructure in the forestland. Singh said, “It could be better if the local and provincial governments had consulted with us. They have violated the law as they have not taken permission from the District Forest Office.”