Pokhara locals start 6-day flight disruption

POKHARA, Sept 25: The locals of Pokhara agitating for speedy construction of a regional international airport on Pokhara disrupted flights to and from Pokhara for three and a half hours on Tuesday. A pressure committee, which is coordinating the protests, shut the airport from 8.30 am to 12 pm Tuesday. The committee had earlier announced that it will partially disrupt flights till September 30.



Tuesday´s disruption caused cancellation of some flights while others were rescheduled.[break]



Two Pokhara-Jomsom flights of Tara Air scheduled for Tuesday were cancelled. “A plane coming to Pokhara from Jomsom was diverted to Katmandu,” Ram Lamichhane, Tara Air Station Manager at Pokhara, informed



Yeti Airlines has rescheduled flights originally scheduled between 8 am and 12 pm. “Four flights were scheduled before 12 pm but we rescheduled them due to the protests. Now two flights have been scheduled before 8 am and two after 12 pm,” said Lamichhane, who is station manager of Yeti Airlines as well.



Similarly, Buddha Air also rescheduled two flights for 2 pm. Gautam Baral, the station manager of Buddha Airlines, informed that although three flights were scheduled before noon, they managed only one flight before noon on Tuesday. Gautam also informed that passengers suffered due to the flight delays.



According to Krishna Mohan Shrestha, the coordinator of the struggle committee, their three and a half hours disruption (8.30 am to 12 pm) will continue till Sunday, September 30 and Monday onward they will not allow any takeoff or landing.



The protest organizers have requested all airline companies not to schedule flights or sell tickets during their strike. Shreshtha also informed that airline companies and Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents have expressed solidarity with their protests.



Government facing hard times to find way out



The government is in a quandry over how to handle the protests after Nepali officials´ visit to China scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the airport issue was put off in the last minute.



According to sources, the scheduled minister-level visit was put off in the last minute due to "non-cooperation from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.



Finance Minister Barshaman Pun, FNCCI President Suraj Vaidya and a member of the protesting committee, Ananada Raj Mulmi, were preparing to leave for China on Tuesday. Mulmi, who is in Katmandu, said he was not informed about the postponement of the visit.

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