There are innumerable religious and tourist destinations in Nisikhola of the Baglung district, which stretches from the plains to the high mountains. However, due to the lack of publicity and infrastructure development, those destinations with a lot of potentials are fading away.
Nisikhola seeking prosperity through tourism
After the arrival of the local government, some changes started to happen. Recently, the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists is increasing in Nisikhola, which is at an altitude of 1,200 to 4,000 meters.
The Nisikhola rural municipality has shown activity for the development and promotion of the religious and touristic areas which are suffering due to lack of publicity.
The rural municipality is coordinating with the central and state governments to highlight potential tourist destinations within the municipality.
The rural municipality has started building infrastructure by identifying and promoting important destinations connected with various municipalities of the district including Rolpa, Rukum, and Pyuthan.
After the project of national pride was connected with the Madhyapahari Lokmarg, the overshadowed destinations have also started to come into the limelight.
Surya Bahadur Ghartimagar, chairman of the rural municipality, said that the rural municipality is planning to create a master plan for the religious and touristic places within the municipality and to promote and develop them.
Gharti said that he would emphasize the infrastructure of popular destinations and speed up the promotion of under-represented places. He says, ‘There are many religious and touristic areas in Nisikhola, how many have we identified, and how many are yet to be identified, we are continuing to identify and publicize them, we are engaged in the work of building infrastructure and publicizing the places that have been identified.’
Chairman Ghartimagar says that the rural municipality has identified the tourist areas such as Rig lake connected to East Rukum, Jante Dhunga connected to Rolpa, Nange Dhuri connected to Pyuthan, Kothebhir, and others.
He said that the rural municipality will cooperate with both municipalities, and district and state governments for the development of Nangke Dhuri, which is on the border of Gaumukhi and Nisikhola rural municipalities.
“There are many places full of natural beauty along with traditional religious arts and culture, most of the tourist and religious areas in Nisikhola are located on the borders of different districts, so both parties are discussing as it would be better to develop them through coordination and cooperation, and we are discussing the places that are on their respective borders. We have made a plan and started the work”, said President Gharti.
Rigtal in Ward No. 6, Nau Bahini Chhahara in Ward No. 3, Kothebhir in Ward No. 5, Sailimaili Jharna in Ward No. 6, Narsinghkot in Ward No. 7, Arnakot in Ward No. 2, Niseldhor in Ward No. 5, Ward No. Barah Mandir at 3 is the main destination of Nisikhola Rural Municipality.
President Ghartimagar said that a master plan for the development of Narsinghkot, Rigtal, Arnakot, Nau Bahini Chhahara, Kothebhir, Nangedhuri, Nisel Dhorpatan has been prepared and the work of some of them has started.
Chairman Ghartimagar says that the living standards of the village residents can be raised through tourism and now they are ready to prepare the foundation for that.
“In the first stage, we have identified places with potential, it is our responsibility to develop them, we may not get results from this recently, but we are confident that results will come gradually”, he said, “We are trying to raise the living standards of the citizens here through the tourism business, and work is being done accordingly.” ‘
Purushottam Gautam, information officer of the rural municipality, informed that 2.5 million more budget has been allocated in the rural municipality for tourism promotion this year. He said that Narsinghkot of Ward No. 7 is a priority in the current financial year and eight lakhs have been allocated for it.
He said that some budget has also been requested from the provincial government for the construction of structures in tourist places and the rural municipality will manage the additional budget and emphasize on the promotion of new destinations.
He informed that the temple construction, leveling, footpath etc. work has been done in Narsinghkot so far and now structures will be prepared for tourist attractions.
He says, ‘The village municipality is keeping a constant budget in Rigtal, Narsinghkot, infrastructure is also being built, the rural municipality has made a master plan to further develop it, along with this, we have made a master plan for many religious and tourist areas within the municipality and work on four/six places is yet to be done. It will also be over in a while.’
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