KHOTANG, June 4: The municipality office of Khotehang has started a conservation campaign for Indreni pond. According to chairperson of Khotehang Rural Municipality, Pradeep Rai, conservation and promotion of the pond is essential for tourism development. “Not just to attract tourists, it has always remained a very important resource for us. But we had not been able to keep it safe and clean,” he said. “Now, we have started working on it with better plans and investments,” he added.
Though quite famous in the locality, the pond remained in shadow for decades. Even though the civil society had strongly urged for its conservation, ‘some had made it dumping site disfiguring its beauty’. “The pond has always been precious for us. But everyone did not understand its value and dumped waste in it,” said Rai.
Women who drive
The rural municipality is set to spend Rs 2.1 million to develop necessary infrastructure to safeguard the pond. The investment is worth it, since it is going to fetch huge fortune to the town, Rai stated.
“The name of this place, Indreni Pokhari was named after the pond. This pond has historical importance. But it remained neglected for ages,” said Rai. “We had allocated budget for it, over 2 million is going to be spent to bring it good shape,” he added. In the last few years, some locals had even encroached land of the pond. However, now the municipality is reclaiming it. “We are not going to leave even an inch of the pond’s land unclaimed. All the encroached land will be reclaimed,” Rai said. “This place, this pond has a huge tourism potential, locals are excited about it too,” he added.
