Accompanying the prime minister are 24 cabinet ministers, five members of the cabinet secretariat including the chief secretary, 38 members of national media and 18 from the international media, including BBC, AP, AFP, and others. Twenty-five Sherpa summiteers plus members of Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) will also join the team. Four officials from National Trust for Nature Conservation will also be part of the historic meet. [break]
Defense Minister Bidya Bhandari will not attend the meeting due to health reasons and Minster for Commerce and Supplies, Rajendra Mahato, will miss it as he is in Geneva attending the ministerial meeting of WTO.
“Altogether there will be 110 people in the overnight trip,” Siddhartha Bajracharya, an NTNC official and the chief coordinator of the event said. He added, “Only 40 people in total will be going to Kalapatthar.” Besides the 25 ministers, including the PM and five members from cabinet secretariat, 10 mediapersons will be allowed at Kala Patthar.
PM Nepal will reach Lukla at around 2 pm Thursday from Ilam, where he is scheduled to attend a program of Kirat Dharma Guru Atma Nanda Lingden. “He will leave Kathmandu at 7 am in the morning for Ilam and will reach Lukla at 2 pm,” Bishnu Rizal, the PM´s press advisor told Republica.
Earlier on Wednesday, at the operational side coordinators´ meeting at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, the summiteers and chief pilots have advised the ministers to restrain from “exertion” and briefed the Chief Secretary on the need for acclimatization.
“We have also recommended for high-altitude gears for the ministers and have advised less exertion, especially once we move higher from Lukla on Friday,” Captain Pramod Lama told Republica.
According to Lama, who will fly the MI-17 to Kalapatthar, arrangement has been made for portable oxygen cylinders in case of emergency. Also, one rescue chopper -- Fishtail´s Ecureil B3 -- with two doctors from HRA and one Nepal Army doctor will be there to attend to any medical needs.
Also for the convenience of ministers, all arrangement for the meeting has been done near the helipad at Kalapatthar in order to avoid long distance trek.
Lama also informed that the first health check-up will be carried six hours after reaching Lukla followed by another on Friday morning. The last check-up will be at Syangboche.
“Only those who qualify in the health check-up at Syangboche will be flown to Kalapatthar,” Lama added.
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