Nepal, May 6 -- Widespread deforestation has been reported in the Gaindatar area of Chandrapur Municipality, Rautahat, allegedly carried out with the direct involvement of the local forest office.

Activists have accused Hemant Prasad Sah, the chief divisional forest officer of Rautahat, of facilitating the illegal felling of trees across more than five bighas of forest land over the past month.

Sunil Kumar Yadav, national coordinator of the Forest Conservation Campaign Nepal, claims that thousands of trees have been cut down with the full knowledge and cooperation of the forest office. He alleges that tree felling began weeks ago in the Gaindatar forest and that new tree plantations were carried out afterward in an attempt to cover up ...