DOLAKHA, Jan 15: Dolkha Bazar of the district used to draw lots of domestic and foreign tourists due to its cultural and historical significance. However, the devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on April 25 ravaged many of its structures including houses, hospitals, schools and government buildings, as well as culturally-significant monuments.
Even after almost nine months of the quake, rubbles of the collapsed infrastructures are still lying around as no one has bothered to clear them. This has severely affected the number of tourists visiting the monuments.
"The earthquake destroyed many historical landmarks of the district. We are trying to repair and renovate the fallen monuments to their initial condition," says Bharat Narayan Pradhan, a local and also a member of Nepali Congess (NC).
"As most of the houses were very close to each other, their rubble have accumulated into great heaps so we are facing difficulty to remove them," Pradhan added.
The rubbles of only some places have been cleared with the assistance from few non-governmental organizations.
Locals have requested the Bhimeswor Municipality to renovate the city to its original state. Civil society leaders and intellectuals of the city are currently discussing how the city can be brought to its initial glory.
However, lack of human resources is creating problems for the renovation. Most of the people have left for employment.
Swiss Development Organization has pledged to renovate the Tripura Sundari, Bajrayogini, Taleju Bhawani temples and the storehouse of the famed Dolakha Bhimeswor temple. The donor agency has also promised to construct roads from Tripura Sundari to Taleju Bhawani.
The Ministry of Tourism has come up with the proposal of home-stay facility in every house to revive tourism in the district. Every constructed house would consist of two rooms for home-stay.
"The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is working to make Dolakha a major attraction for tourists. For the long-term policy, the government has come up with the proposal of home-stay. Tourism can be the backbone for the speedy restoration of the city," said Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Bhim Acharya while addressing a function at the Bhimeswor Minicipality. He also instructed the municipality to speed up all its renovation and development projects.