This is the peak season for thousands of tourists to visit the famous shrine in the district. However, unlike in the past years, the number of visitors this year has reduced significantly as the historic sculpture of Gorakhnath is still under temporary shelter.Due to the dilapidated condition of the temple, visitors fear to go near it. Even the priest of the temple fears to enter inside the temple. "It looks like it may collapse any time," the priest said.
Along with the temple, reconstruction of the Gorkha Palace is yet to begun. As a result, there is a high risk for the theft of sculpture and religious monuments from the palace, Rameshwor Kattel, a non-gazetted officer, who has also been assigned as the caretaker of the palace, said.
Lack of visitors at Gorkhnath temple and Gorakha Palace has adversely affected the business of local entrepreneurs, who sell garland and flowers in the temple premises.
Locals complained that the bus park, which used to be full of visitors to visit the historic sites in the district earlier, now wears a deserted look.
Around Rs 3.9 million reconstruction funds were provided for the repairing the temple and the palace in the aftermath of the earthquake. "The allocated budget has finished. With it we were able to repair the roof of one temple," Kattel informed.
"I've heard that billions of reconstruction funds have been collected so far but no funds other than Rs 3.9 million have been provided for repairing this historical site," he added.
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