In a bid to promote rafting on the river, the NRCT had recently launched a campaign to attract more people. But the campaign did not have a great impact as it drew fewer people, putting a question mark on the efforts to develop the river as a commercial rafting destination. [break]
“People still consider the Bagmati River as dirty and a dumping site,” said Mausam Khanal, executive director of the NRCT. “In a bid to develop the Bagmati River as a rafting destination, first people should change their mind set.”
According to Khanal, along with the lack of awareness among people, poor marketing about rafting in the Bagmati River was the reason why not many people were seen during the rafting program. “We failed to circulate the news about the cleanliness campaign in the Bagmati River and the condition is much better than in the past. And people want adventurous rafting which is not possible in the river. Such people travel to Trishuli and Sunkoshi in order to get full enjoyment of rafting. ”
In every Bagmati River Festival, rafting program has been organized by the NRCT. This year, they wanted to give continuity to rafting in the Bagmati River commercially. On August 3, Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Raj Kumar Shrestha, Sectary of Ministry of Urban Development Kishor Thapa and celebrities like Rajesh Hamal, Ani Choying Dolma enjoyed rafting in the Bagmati River. Likewise, the NRCT also invited women journalist for the rafting.
The NRCT started taking ticket for rafting from August 7. Initially the ticket for a female was Rs 700 and Rs 900 for a male. But when the organizers noticed lesser number people coming forward for rafting, they decreased the ticket price to Rs 750 for both.
“We thought because of the ticket price, people did not want to come for rafting in the Bagmati River. And we decreased it,” said Khanal. “But later we knew that price was not the reason.”
Only four rafting trips were held in the Bagmati River by the organizers. They also had to take long gaps for several days just because fewer numbers of people showed interest.
“The rafting program would have stopped long ago, if we had not invited people from different organizations with their family. The lesser number of people is discouraging for us,” he said.
Different organizations like Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN), Film Artist Association of Nepal (FAAN), Gayatri Pariwar Kathmandu, Ace Travels and different schools and college have been carrying out Bagmati Sanitation Grand Campaign (BSGC) on every Saturday.
“People will understand slowly and will definitely show their interest in rafting. The concept is new for all of them so I think it will take time to develop commercial rafting in the Bagmati River,” said Raj Kumar Bhattarai, President of the AAN.
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