For many of the locals, yarshaguma picking is an opportunity to earn quite a bit of money, but not everyone heading for the journey returns home. Since the yarshagumba picking season began some two months ago, as many as eight locals have died in the high mountains. [breakj]
A few weeks ago, Darpan Singh Kuwar of Chhapani VDC had returned home on a month-long vacation. As many of the villagers were heading for the mountains to pick yarsagumba, he also went along with them. But after five days in the mountains, he lost his life due to altitude sickness, while others also died either of altitude sickness or by falling off the mountains.
“Four persons from the VDC have already lost their lives,” said Kalyan Singh Kuwar, a local social worker. Likewise, a woman of Bramhadev VDC also died after falling off a cliff a few weeks ago.
According to the locals, dozens of people from the district lose their lives in the mountains while picking yarshagumba, while hundreds return home with life-long injuries after falling off the mountains.
However, the exact number of deaths is never reported as the bodies of the dead are abandoned in the mountains, said the police. “As the deaths are not reported to the police we are not in the position to tell the exact number of deaths,” said Kuber Singh Kadayat, chief of the Darchula police.
Locals say they perform the final rites of the dead in the mountains as it takes them several days to return to the village. But lately, the District Police Office (DPO) has mobilized a team to the mountains where the locals pick Yarshagumba, said Kadayat.
Locals pick Yarshagumba from 19 places, including Khandeswori, Ghusa, Ralpa, and Byash in the district.
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