Stakeholders of community forests staged an agitation demanding the lifting of the ban in the distribution of timber and firewood imposed last May by the government by blocking the Mahendra Highway for an hour on December 31. Forest user protested with anti-government slogans in Kawasoti district headquarters. 

Madhu Bilas Adhikari, the district chairperson of the Scientific Forest Network, accused the government of importing timber from abroad by banning timber and firewood in Nepal. Stakeholders also submitted a memorandum to the Division Forest Office. There are 50 community forest user committees in East Nawalparasi.