We were extremely happy when the foundation stone was laid and inaugurated at Gautam Buddha International Airport in Rupandehi. Now the tourism professionals and citizens of this region will get a lot of benefits from this airport. It was a matter of happiness and pride for us to have an international flight from here.

But that happiness could not last for long . That suddenly turned into disappointment . There was no international flight for two years. Only one international flight took place . Jazeera Airlines has operated international flights from Gautam Buddha International Airport to Kuwait for 8 months.

No other flights could take place after that . After 8 months, the flight of Jazeera Airlines was also stopped . After that, hoteliers here in Bhairahawa invested 80 billion rupees after the foundation stone was laid and the government invested 40 billion rupees to build the Gautam Budh International Airport. Now we are seeing - both are sinking. Businessmen have drowned . Check the position of businessmen today . In what condition has it reached! We repeatedly requested from the federal government to the local government why this airport was built. Why is it not operational?

We also did a movement for this . We had to protest. In Nepal, nothing can be achieved without a movement. Whatever work has been done till date, it has been done on the strength of the movement. We protested for 15 days almost at the airport. At that time, Sudan Kirati was the tourism minister and after our protest, we were called for talks. We went into negotiations . A stakeholder meeting was held. Within two months, when we protested, no matter how many demands we had, the infrastructure that was supposed to be built here could not be opened during this period and the things we demanded could not be fulfilled. 

But one day our current Prime Minister started coming from the airport to attend some events. The delegation of our hotel association took a memorandum and submitted this matter to the Prime Minister. He also assured. Then he held a meeting of his secretariat in July 2081 and all these matters were decided by the cabinet. Even though it is nine months today, all the things had to be done in Bhairahawa . If that came, this airport would definitely have gained momentum . But that didn't happen . Why not ? 

The government did not want to run this airport. According to some people in Kathmandu, this airport is not operated.

I told the government that this airport belongs to this area . It is the future of businessmen and citizens here. The businessmen here have taken a loan from the bank, which is an investment of 80 billion. Some businessmen have reached the stage of being auctioned, after being blacklisted . Who will see these things? Where is the government now ? 

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Badri Prasad Pandey came to Bhairahawa on 9th March. We went to Gautam Buddha International Airport and had a meeting with him. We have held such discussions not once, but for the 10th time for the operation of the airport . What question I asked him, why the discussion now ? We don't go for continuous flights. Now, instead of discussing here, let's talk about the demands with the relevant stakeholders, namely the Ministry of Finance, Health, Foreign Affairs and Industry. If those demands are met, there will be a rush of tourists here .

We have so much hope from the government, which has not been fulfilled . Now the only thing is that there are about 130 million intellectuals in the world . Because only 70 percent of intellectuals are in China, whose population is 1.4 billion. This means that 66 million Hindus went and bathed in Allahabad Kumbh Mela in India recently. Hindus are also 1.3 billion in number. If 66 million can go there, out of 1 billion 30 million Buddhists, we cannot bring even 5 million to the birthplace of Lord Gautama Buddha ? 

What I want to say is that the government's tourism policy in Nepal is not right. The law is not right, the act is not right, procedures are not made . Therefore, there is no environment for tourists. Therefore, I would like to request the government, the government should create an environment for tourists to come, tourism professionals are always with the government . 

Recently, The New York Times has placed Lumbini on the ninth place in the list of places to visit in the world. That is, there is information about the birth place of Gautama Buddha in the world. We can bring countless number of tourists to this birth place if we want. This can greatly help in increasing Nepal's economic growth and per capita income (GDP) rate. 

There is also a matter of employment here . We have provided employment to around 15/20 thousand people in this district. We have produced a skilled workforce . 

Now when we talk about cross border tourism, our tourists come in one air connectivity and another road connectivity . Most of the Indian tourists come from here, which is Sunauli Naka. Which we call Belhia Border . You have seen and listened to the situation of this border. There is one staff member in the immigration office . Numerous tourists sit in line for six hours. Travel agencies in India show us photos and tell us that we have to stand in line for six hours . Why do we come to Nepal? It is having a negative effect on tourists.