KATHMANDU — On July 14, residents of Bharatpur town on the fringes of Chitwan National Park in Nepal set ablaze a vehicle they thought belonged to a railway survey team. The vehicle with a mounted camera was taking photos of different places in Ward No. 8 of the town on the banks of the Narayani River when local people confronted it and set it ablaze after the two occupants were forced out. It had all started when around five people resting under a tree approached the vehicle and started questioning the surveyors, 21-year-old Ajit Basnet, who was operating a camera, told Annapurna Post. Soon they parked their motorcycles right in front and behind the vehicle, immobilizing it. Some people started taking photos and videos. Basnet said he tried to explain to the crowd that they were there to work on a mapping app unrelated to the project, but the crowd didn’t listen to them and set the vehicle on fire. The eastern areas of Bhartapur have been on tenterhooks following the government’s decision to realign its ambitious 945.44-kilometer (587-mile) east-west railway project to avoid Chitwan National Park, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to 128 0f the country’s 355 Bengal tigers (Panther tigris). The new proposed line now passes through the city. “The team was attempting to conduct a map survey, which our community vehemently opposes,” said Dibya Nepal, secretary of the Railway Victims Struggle Committee. “We have been highly vigilant to disallow all activities related to…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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