KATHMANDU, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- More than 80,000 hectares of forest area has been encroached in Nepal during the last 20 years, the Department of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS) said here on Friday.

    According to the DFRS, 80,635 hectares of forest was occupied in two decades with 2,000 hectares of forest area was transferred to private ownership during the time, reported The Rising Nepal daily.

    According to the report, the encroachment had been increasing in the recent years. It is hard to control the encroachment of forestland, the department said.

    DFRS informed that the government is going to set up four forest security posts in some districts in the country for the conservation of forest and wild animals.

    The posts will be manned by the forest guards and Armed Police Force personnel.

    According to the daily, the government has set aside 2.3 billion Nepali rupees (35 million U.S. dollars) for the Forest Ministry in this fiscal year's budget, starting from mid-July.