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Two persons died and 27 others sustained injuries when a bus met with an accident near Ranjha Chowk in Banke district on Thursday.

The bus (Bhe 1 Kha 2128) was heading towards Nepalgunj from Dang when the incident occurred, said Deputy Superintendent Narayan Dangi of the District Police Office Banke.

The deceased have been identified as Dhana Bahadur Oli (60) and Santosh Bhusal (24), the bus helper, of Tulasipur, Dang.

The injured are undergoing treatment at the Bheri Hospital in Nepalgunj and at the Kohalpur-based Teaching Hospital, according to police.

Wildfires have destroyed around 5, 000 hectares of forest in Banke.  

According to the District Forest Office, Banke, a total of 76 community forests and one Chakla Forest have been affected by the fires. There are around 100 community forests in Banke.

Birendra Rokka, Assistant Forest Officer and Information Officer of the District Forest Office, said that the forest fires have been brought under control in most of the forests with the help of eight fire engines.

To control the fires, 30 km of fire lines have been constructed in Chakla forest and 20 km in various community forests. The fires are reported to have started due to the long dry season without rainfall and also by the carelessness of people.

Due to the fires, rabbits, snakes, and different species of birds have died.

Meanwhile, 105 incidents of fire have occurred in various local levels of Banke.

A person has died and six others were injured in the incidents, said Assistant Chief District Officer Jorasingh Majhi. A total of 104 cattle heads have perished in the fire incidents.

Property worth around Rs 17.7 million was destroyed in the incidents that have occurred in Narainapur, Raptisonari, Janaki and Nepalgunj.

Despite a decrease in leprosy cases compared to previous years, Banke and Bardiya districts in the Lumbini Province continue to report new cases of this chronic infectious disease, posing challenges to its elimination.

During the fiscal year 2079-80 BS (2022-23), Shinning Hospital in Janaki Rural Municipality, Banke, identified 126 cases of leprosy. Hospital Chief Mangal Bahadur Tharu said that, of the cases detected last year, 55 were from Banke, 37 from Bardiya, and the remaining from other districts in Lumbini, Karnali, and Sudur Paschim provinces.

Operated by the NGO INF Nepal, the hospital had identified 157 leprosy cases in the fiscal year 2078-79 BS (2021-22). According to Tharu, regular camps are being conducted in various locations to find out hidden cases of the disease.

Ram Bahadur Chand, the health division chief of Nepalgunj sub-metropolis, acknowledged challenges in leprosy prevention and underlined the need for more actions including leprosy camps to identify hidden cases.

Jeevan Rajaure, the leprosy focal person at the District Health Office in Bardiya, said the social perception towards leprosy patients has not yet completely changed and the people with the issue face stigma in the society. "It has hindered their access to medical care."

Gyanendra Kumar Chaudhary, Chief of the District Coordination Committee in Banke, commended INF's role in promoting public awareness against leprosy, identifying undiagnosed cases, and contributing to prevention efforts in the area. He pledged to facilitate among the three-tier government to allocate the budget to the district for leprosy elimination initiatives in the district.