The village council has set a fee for visiting Manaslu

Manoj Lamichhane, the chief administrative officer of the village, said that the decision was made by the executive committee and the all-party meeting and informed to the relevant agencies. He said that within a few days, preparations have been made to set up a check post at Chumanubri-3 Jagat and collect fees. "Within two/three days, we will set up a check post and start charging the fee," he said. He said that the decision was made to increase the internal income of the village.

The meeting of the village executive on June 8 decided to raise the fee . He said that the meeting of people's representatives, representatives of political parties, tourism professionals and stakeholders on Friday also unanimously decided to raise the walking fee. "Also from the all-party meeting, there was a positive suggestion that this is a good effort for Long Tram, and the revenue capacity can be increased," he said.

Municipalities within the conservation area are required to collect tax from the areas of revenue mobilization according to the Local Government Operation Act, 2074. The municipality has informed that the tax collection has not been completed as expected due to the duplication of the conservation and park law. Lamichhane said that the internal revenue source is extremely low as the hiking fees collected by the National Nature Conservation Fund and the Immigration Department are not distributed to the rural municipalities.

'The village has no other source of income, the main business is tourism as the entire rural municipality falls within the protected area,' he said, 'Now the immigration department and Manaslu protected area collect fees from tourists, but the rural municipality is not distributed, we also wondered if there would be duplication. , but there is no other source of income, there is no revenue from herb collection, this decision has to be made by force because there is no source.'

It has been decided to collect hiking fees for tourists coming to the Manaslu conservation area based on the Economic Act 2081 of the municipality. The information about the decision to collect hiking fee has been informed to the concerned offices such as Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment, Gandaki Province Pokhara, Immigration Department, National Nature Conservation Fund, District Administration Office Gorkha, Tourism Board etc. It is also said that the hiking fees collected by the municipality will be invested in environmental protection and tourism promotion of Chumanubri and Manaslu conservation areas.

There are 7 wards of Chumanubri Rural Municipality under Manaslu Conservation Area. Manaslu Conservation Area (MCAP) has also been charging Rs 3,000 per tourist and Rs 1,000 for tourists from SAARC countries for Manaslu entry fee. 100 entry fee for Nepali tourists but it has not been implemented.

Similarly, the admissions department has set a fee of 100 dollars a week and 15 dollars a day for a week and 75 dollars a week and 10 dollars a day for a week during the season (September, October and November). . Santaesh Sherchan, the head of MCAP, said that the rural municipality was asked to take money from three agencies, saying that there would be duplicity.

'We have suggested that it would be better not to repeat it,' he said, 'If we coordinate with the tourism department or any higher body, some of the money coming from the tourist entry fee can be arranged at the relevant local level.' He said that it was suggested that a certain fee can be collected from there by building a tourist structure.

Lately, Manaslu conservation area has become the choice of tourists. Last financial year only 9 thousand 783 foreign tourists visited Manaslu conservation area.