Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DoNPWC) will submit its final proposal for the extension of Bardiya National Park to the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) Tuesday for government approval. "The final draft will be submitted Tuesday, which will be endorsed by the cabinet meeting scheduled on Friday at Gorakshep," Shiva Raj Bhatta, the spokesperson of DoNPWC, told Republica.
As per the proposal, Bardiya conservation area will now inlcude a total of 1862 sq km, with an extension of 894 sq km. At present, Bardiya conservation area is spread over 968 sq km land. The national park will be extended by 550 sq km and the conservation area by another 344 sq km. While the national park will lie in Banke district, conservation area in totality will run through Banke, Dang and Salyan districts. However, since the core area of the park also includes Churiya region and some community forests are also situated there, the proposed extension of 550 sq km may be reduced to some extent.
"From the proposed 550 sq km, 50-70 sq km may be reduced as there are community forests in the area as well. This factor has to be borne in mind before a final decision is made," Buddhi Sagar Poudel of DoNPWC said.
Earlier, a committee formed under Tika Ram Adhikari, the warden of Bardiya National Park, had submitted a report to the Department. The committee said that during its interaction with the locals, the members found that the people were "positive" to the idea of extension of the conservation area. They were, however, worried about the problems they will face from the wild animals if the area is extended. The MoFSC appointed the committee to recommend for the extension soon after the Tiger Summit held in Kathmandu last month.
Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting in Gorakshep will also announce 1903 sq km Api-Nampa Conservation Area in Darchula and 2035 sq km Gauri Shankhar Conservation Area, which will fall both in Ramechhap and Dolakha districts. "With the three announcements, the total conservation area will rise to 27%," Minister for Forests Deepak Bohara told Republica Monday.
However, the DoNPWC officials have pointed at "resource constraints" for such ambitious plans. "The Department is still working out the budget for Bardiya, not to talk about Api-Nampa and Gauri Shankhar," a DoNPWC offcial told Republica asking to be unnamed. He added, "It will be better to look at the logistics, including the need for additional manpower and doubling the current budget for Bardiya before the ministry arrives at any decision."
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