Villagers strip Nepalese forests amid kerosene price hike
Copyright 2000 Agence France Presse
October 26, 2000
Villagers unable to afford kerosene after a recent price hike have begun cutting firewood from Nepal's protected jungles to cook their food, reports said Thursday.
Villagers from Rupandehi district, southwest Nepal, started chopping down firewood from nearby forests, according to local papers, after the government doubled the price of kerosene from 13 rupees (17 cents) per litre to 26 rupees on October 14.
Consumer groups and forestry bodies said it was not only the poor but also students, labourers and small hoteliers who had begun to strip the forests.
"If this trend of destroying the forest continues, soon all the forests of Rupandehi district will be depleted," a local daily, the Naya Sadak (New Road) reported.
"Despite a government ban to cut firewood from jungles, the people of the villages have ignored the warning and gather wood from them, especially at night," the paper added.
The forest foraging is widespread, with Nepalese living in the eastern parts of the kingdom also searching for wood.
Even Nepalese living in the comparatively prosperous capital say they can barely afford sufficient fuel.
"We can hardly afford the sudden increase in kerosene to cook our food," Ram Bahadur Thapa, a Kathmandu rickshaw driver complained.
The state-run Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) raised petroleum and oil products (POL) amid rising inflation, a depreciating Nepalese currency and surging global oil prices.
The price hike has spurred a range of protests across the country, with the burning of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's effigy a common sight.