In the terminal building of the newly built Pokhara International Airport, there is no rush in front of the domestic departure gate. Foreign tourists are seen every now and then. The number of taxis waiting for passengers at the airport parking lot has decreased. The taxi driver looks disappointed. The faces of the airport staff are not as bright as they were during the inauguration. This is the scenario after the Yeti Airlines ATR plane crash on January 1. At this time, the number of people traveling by air from Pokhara has decreased. Airport statistics also show that the number of people traveling by ship has decreased in Pokhara. Jasuda Subedi, Head of Airport Operations and Deputy Director, said that before the accident, there were up to 48 flights (double) from Pokhara per day. It has dropped to 26 after the accident. On December 29, there were 48 flights, 1,400 passengers entered Pokhara and 1,329 passengers left. On January 9, 466 passengers entered Pokhara while 561 departed during 26 flights. “When the airport started, there was excitement everywhere,” said Subedi, “After the accident, the number of people traveling by air has decreased. But we are confident that it will gradually increase. In January of last year, the airport had an average of 50 flights per day. Compared to the same time last year, it has been reduced by half. There are currently flights from Pokhara to Kathmandu, Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Nepalgunj and Jomsom. Pokhara-Jomsom flight is from the old airport.
January – January is the time when foreign tourists come in less quantity. Lately, domestic tourists have been making Pokhara’s tourism more active during this season. After the opening of the airport, the airline added flights to Kathmandu-Pokhara. A new airline began to take off. The number of air passengers increased. But after the plane crash, Pokhara’s tourism suffered a direct blow, say tourism professionals. Laxman Subedi, president of Hotel Association Pokhara, says that while the message that Nepal’s skies are safe is slowly spreading, the plane crash on January 1 has made it more difficult. This is also the offseason now. Earlier, the lakeside was quiet at this time. Later, the domestic tourists gradually increased,” he said. “Now after the ship accident, some hotel bookings have started to be cancelled.” From the outside, he argued that the skies of Pokhara cannot be called unsafe because of a ship accident. Taxi driver Ran Bahadur Hitan has been transporting passengers from the airport since August 17. He was excited about the passenger traffic till Jan 30. “More than 80 taxis used to be in queue,” he said, “One taxi used to get a turn two or three times.” A thousand, fifteen hundred were saved a day. It is not like that now. There are only about 60 taxis in the parking lot now. After the decrease in the number of passengers coming from airplanes, those taxis barely get a turn once a day. “Now, after the accident, there may be panic among the people, there are fewer passengers,” he said, “We have to move with the times and circumstances.” Even if not now, we are hoping that it will increase gradually.
Hariram Adhikari, president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Natta) Gandaki, said that after the accident, the number of passengers in tourist buses, jeeps and cars is high. “The number of passengers going abroad, visiting Pokhara and commuting between Kathmandu and Pokhara for work was increasing,” he said.
Now is the season when foreigners are less. Even those who try to come are thinking that an accident will happen,” he said. “Instead, we receive frequent inquiries about the cause of the accident. We are not able to tell the reason for this.’ He said that if the investigation committee publishes the report quickly, it will be easier to brief foreign tourists who want to come to Nepal accordingly.
The weather was good that day. It was not even possible to say the reason for the geography,” he said. “We demand that it be clear from the investigation whether it is a technical error or a human weakness.” Pomnarayan Shrestha, chairman of the Pokhara Tourism Council, says that it is ironic that the message that Pokhara’s skies are not safe should be taken as the fate of the accident. . Shipwrecks are happening elsewhere too. The loss of life and property caused by road accidents is worse than that,” he says. “It does not mean that ships will not board, vehicles will not board. Instead, the relevant agencies should pay attention to how it can be made safe.
After the accident, on January 1, the government formed a 5-member accident investigation commission under the coordination of former secretary Nagendra Ghimire. The members of the commission are aviation expert Nepali Army retired Captain Deepak Prakash Bastola, retired Captain Sunil Thapa, ship maintenance engineer Ekrajjung Thapa. Budhisagar Lamichhane, joint secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, is the member secretary. The commission has been mandated to prepare a report within 45 days.
The commission issued a press release on Tuesday and informed that it has collected documents including necessary spare parts and aircraft records from the accident site. It is stated in the statement that the necessary parts, records of the aircraft, conversations with some eyewitnesses and necessary documents from the airline operator have been collected after conducting a detailed inspection of the accident site. “More documents are being collected from the regulatory bodies and others,” the statement said.
Ghimire said that he was married. “UML is a party that organizes and plans its strategy better than other parties,” said Ghimire, “It is preparing ground for the presidential election by attacking Congress.” The UML thinks that the Congress, which has more votes than it, will make a candidate.
General Secretary Shankar Pokharel also said that there is an attempt to lead the country towards political instability again in the program held at the UML headquarters in Chasal on Saturday. “UML is very serious about the kind of instability games that are going on in Nepali politics now,” said Pokharel, “I would like to mention here that it is consciously determined to move it forward on the right path.”
Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali, who reached Palpa, accused the Congress of trying to fish in murky waters. Leader Gyawali also claimed that any attempt to weaken this current alliance will not succeed. Asserting that the president will be UML according to the agreement between the ruling coalition parties, he said, “Congress has lost all its positions because it could not manage power properly.” Still fishing in murky water is at stake. That’s why the stake of the president may be high.
According to the consensus of the ruling coalition, he claims that the Congress will not get the presidency under any circumstances. Mentioning that the Congress may have hoped to get the President by giving a vote of confidence to Prime Minister Dahal, he said, “I have not made any promises to the Congress and asked for votes.” There is no doubt that the UML candidate will become the president according to the previous agreement. He said that the UML is not suspicious of the power coalition. “The Congress could not become the ruling party,” he said.
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