Gaighat (Udayapur), Oct 15: Timber smuggling has upped in different national and community forests in Udayapur district taking advantage of the advent of festive season.
The deforestation and smuggling has abruptly increased in the national forest of Khanbu VDC with less vigilance on part of forest employees in view of Dashain – the biggest festival of Nepali people, said Hom Bahadur Magar, a local.
The timber smugglers had extracted the logs from the forest area overnight and loaded them to tractors for smuggling to Sunsari, said Krishna Raj Timsina, a witness.
Locals further said that the timber loading and smuggling is taking place in the night time.
Likewise, timber smuggling has increased in most of the community forests in Mainamaini area in the eastern region of Bara district, said Min Kumar Rai, a local of Babala-7.
The timbers are being smuggled to Sunsari from the community forests here via the Saptakoshi Bridge mostly during the night time, Rai added.