Hectares of forest land at Wards 2 and 3 of Godawari Municipality in Kailali have been encroached upon ever since Godawari was declared the provincial capital of Sudurpaschim around four years ago.

A large area stretching from Bandevi temple in Teghri north to Godawari has been rapidly encroached upon. The majority of the forest above Godawari in the Chure region has also been illegally occupied. The local people claim that the encroached land is also being bought and sold in collusion with forest officials, people’s representatives and government officials.

Bhoj Bahadur Aidi of Godawari-3 said forest encroachment in this area is rapidly increasing with the involvement of land brokers, forest officials and the people's representatives.

Plots of land connected to Chure of Gauriganga Municipality in Kailali have similarly been misappropriated. There were around 50 houses and sheds in Paneruwa forest area of Gauriganga before the local elections held on May 13, 2022, but after the vote, more than 200 houses sprang up in the forest in no time with the collusion of people’s representatives and the forest authority.

“This level of encroachment is impossible without the collusion of the people in authority. After the local elections, forest encroachment has gone unabated under political cover,” said Harikrishna Jaisi, another local of Godawari-3. “Similar to Gauriganga, the bordering community forest of Chure Rural Municipality has also been illegally claimed. New settlements were built in many places,” he added.

Swathes of forest land have been destroyed to build structures, including various road and irrigation projects, monasteries, religious areas, community buildings, cowsheds, and government schools, in the name of development.

Forest division offices do not have accurate data on forest encroachment but according to the information shared by the Division Forest Office in Kailali five years ago, it was shown that 30,000 hectares of forest area in Kailali have been encroached upon. Out of the total 3,23,500 hectares in the district, more than 64 percent, which is 2,05,900 hectares, is forest land.

According to Rameshchand Thakuri, a former forest officer who has been part of several research projects on forest conservation in Kailali, the current encroachment is twice the normal.

“Estimates show that if forest encroachment continues at this rate, after five years, more than half of the total forest may disappear,” said Thakuri.

According to the data from the environmental branch of the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Sudurpaschim, several road and irrigation projects have also destroyed a large number of forest areas in four districts of the province with Kailali being the most affected. The Postal Highway destroyed approximately 200 hectares of forest, and another 150 hectares will go to the construction of the Dipayal Khutiya expressway. Around 14,000 trees were cut by the Ranijamara Kularia Irrigation Project.

Krishna Awasthi, a former Division Forest employee, said the actual damage is much more than what official data shows. The construction of roads has also destroyed thousands of hectares of forest. From Chisapani in Kailali to Nayal in Godawari, 44 new rural roads are under construction. “After the construction of these roads, the adjacent forest areas have started turning into settlements. Encroachment of forest areas has never been this extensive,” said Awasthi.

The current Director General, Deveshmani Tripathi (the former Forest Secretary) of the Department of Forests, Sudurpaschim, says that most of the forest areas have been encroached upon by the investments of the local units and provincial government under political protection.

According to Tripathi, out of the total forest area of the province, 1,93,100 hectares are in the Tarai region, and a vast chunk has turned into human settlements. “As soon as encroachment on the forest happens, the local units and provincial government start working to legitimise the encroachment by planning infrastructures such as electricity, roads, drinking water, and schools which encourages and increases the encroachment in the forest,” he said.

According to the data published by Sahajapur, Ningali, Khairala, Udasipur, and Godavari Forest Subdivisions of Kailali, encroachment has multiplied in the past five years. The maximum forest area has been encroached on from 2016 to 2022.