The traffic shutdown that has been going on for five days in protest against the under-construction cable car in Pathibhara has affected the life of the far eastern hilly district. On January 12, two people were shot in a clash between the 'No Cable Car Group' and the police.

The agitating party has announced more programs of the movement by demanding that the construction of the cable car should be stopped immediately, the arrested Pradeep Maden, Chandrasagar Limbu and Laxman Limbu should be released, the armed and Nepal Police team in Kaflepati should be returned and an environment for negotiations should be created.

Hemsagar Bhattarai, a farmer of Fungling-3, said that farmers producing milk and vegetables were also affected because the market was not functioning due to the traffic stop. Indra Sunuwar of Fungling-8 Dokhu said that if he could not deliver 600 chickens from his farm to the market, he would take them to the road and leave them. They have not been able to take it to the market and sell it, nor have they been able to bring fodder. In this case, there is no option to leave it on the road," he said. Saroj Kangliwa, district secretary of Kirat Yakthung Chumlung, one of the protesting groups, said, "The government is ignoring it." He also accused them of infiltrating the movement to weaken it. 

After the youth of the protesting group was shot on January 12, most of the parliamentarians criticized the government in the Koshi state assembly meeting last Monday. Khagensin Hangam, Minister of Industry, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the province, requested the political and peace negotiation committee formed by the provincial government to call the protesting groups for immediate talks. Although the committee called for talks on January 15, the protesting group was not formally invited for talks until Friday evening. Phembu, the leader of the protesting group, said that there is no official information about it. The agitating group believes that the state government has staged the talks with the aim of confusing them.

On the other hand, Home Minister Ramesh Ukhar called the members of the House of Representatives of Taplejung, Ilam, Sankhuwasabha and promised to form a negotiation committee. MP Leeladevi Bokhim says that the MP participating in the discussion invited the protestors to a dialogue and asked them to find a lasting solution to the problem. The minister assured that since it is a matter of concern with the Ministry of Tourism and Physical Affairs as well, they will coordinate between these ministries and form a negotiation committee under the leadership of the Joint Secretary. Bokhim said that the government does not seem sensitive because the negotiation committee has not been formed yet. "On the first day of the parliament, I did not get to speak," Bokhim said, "I will raise questions in the parliament as to why the negotiation team was not formed and the province did not call for negotiations even after making a decision, and I ask the leaders to be serious about this." 

Bokhim said she is concerned that the situation could become more complicated if the government is ignoring it. While in the district, she also held a discussion between the protesting parties, the cable car construction group and the administration. She said that there was a clash before the second time could be discussed. Congress District President Gajendra Prasad Tumyahang says that he was surprised at the delay even though he requested the Home Minister to create an environment for talks.

Chief District Officer Netra Prasad Sharma said that he is waiting for the decision of the state and the center as the district is not within reach. We are working on peace and security in the district and rescuing stranded passengers. As the talks are not within the reach of the district, we are waiting for the union and the state to do it," he said. Narayan Thapa, the district president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, expresses his concern that this issue, which has been in dispute for 6 years, will not take a good shape even though the union and the state have come to the attention of the state to find a solution. They are worried about the fact that organizations such as trade associations, political parties, local levels, etc. put pressure on the agitating parties to negotiate and find a way out. Maivakhola rural municipality chairman Vijayaprakash Banem said he was surprised about the reason for the government's neglect. "It makes no sense to show sympathy after the incident," he said, "at this time the government should be serious." 

A 2.7 km cable car is being constructed from Phungling-10 Kaflepati to the end of the temple targeting the Pathibhara temple. The agitating party has been demanding that Pathibhara Mukkumlung should be kept in its original state as it is the heartland of the Limbu community.

For four decades, the initiative

has just reached Tokmedanda in Taplejung headquarters, Fungling. The then King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya Shah reached Fungling on December 19, 2044 to inaugurate the same road. Constituent Assembly member Bhupendra Thebe, who was Pradhan Panchayat of Sinam Village Panchayat at that time, also participated in the royal couple's visit. An informal discussion was held on the benefits of connecting the road. "It was at that time that Chwang Tenzing Sherpa, a businessman from Olangchungola, proposed that a cable car should be built in Pathibhara," recalls Thebe, "Everyone was interested when they heard about the cable car for the first time. But, after that, the matter did not gain momentum.

In 2054, the government formed the Pathibhara Area Development Committee. Keshav Prasad Dahal of Fungling municipality-6, the then Congress district secretary, was appointed as its first president. Chwang made a formal proposal to Dahal to build a cable car at Pathibhara. In which one megawatt of electricity is needed, the road from Suketar to Kaflepati should be built, and efforts should be made to provide the necessary land. He also said that an initiative with the recommendation of the Regional Development Committee is necessary for that. Dahal assured that he would coordinate as the road has to be taken from the forest area. Maoist armed conflict was on the rise. Dahal's two-year tenure is over. Chwang also did not communicate further and Dahal was also not interested.

Chwang of Taplejung, Olangchungola used to trade carpets from Kathmandu to foreign countries. Chhawang, Sonam Tenzing and Phurbu Walung registered Kanchenjunga Cable Car Pvt Ltd in 2054. Delman Gurung was given the responsibility to look after the management on the condition of giving 10 percent share. Delman is the brother of former minister Suryaman Gurung. According to Delman, they set a condition to increase the work to be operational in five years. "The plan was to complete all the work for a maximum of 13 million rupees," Delman said, "We took one Indian and one Nepali engineer, Buddhinarayan Shrestha, to the Pathibhara area and conducted a survey." There was no good road to deliver the big logs. Even electricity was not ready to reach. There was no possibility of producing one megawatt of electricity by investing on our own," he said. "There was no bridge on the Kabeli River either. Chwang also went to America. Then we closed the office and did not renew the company. Then Dhruvnarayan Shrestha (Biratnagar sub-metropolitan chief in 2043) who owns 92 ropani of land in Kaflepati registered Pathibhara Devi Cable Car Darshan Pvt. Before that, Subhash Sanghai of Sanghai Group had already registered Triveni Cable Car Company. 

Sanghai took a recommendation from the chairman of 6 community forest user committees of Fungling municipality, then Furumbu, Fawakhola gavis and Pathibhara area to get permission from the government for the cable car construction. According to Sagar Gautam, who worked as a district representative in Triveni Cable Car Company, Yam Bahadur Limbu of Furumbu Khark Community Forest, Lamahang Limbu of Mechidanda Linkhim, Krishna Linkhim of Mayam Patal, Yam Bahadur Nugo of Banpala, Prem Simbu of Simbu Pathibhara and Bhakti Kangwa of Sunpati Community Forest Sikaincha gave recommendations. According to Suraj Ojha, District President of Community Forest Users Federation, these 6 forests touch the Pathibhara temple. Gautam says that at that time, the employees were running the local bodies without people's representatives.

Raising the agenda to build the cable car with the participation of the locals, tourism businessman Ishwari Paudel of Taplejung's Fungling-9, Pushpa Baduwal of Jhapa also supported him, and Dhruva Narayan of Pathibhara Darshan also pressed for permission. At that time, the Ministry of Physical Planning had a provision to issue a construction permit (license). Dhruv Narayan filed a complaint with the Ministry of Physical and Tourism, saying that Triveni Group had created fake documents in the name of locals for the license. The Ministry formed a working group and called all the chairpersons of the consumer committee, representatives of both companies and even the district parliamentarians. Gautam says that they withdrew from taking the license after the consumer committee presidents said in the discussion, "We have given a recommendation by mistake, we will take it back". District Administration Office Taplejung also proved that the document prepared by Triveni for recommendation was fake. 

Dhruv Narayan says that Triveni, who has done technical studies and other work, has spent about 5 crore rupees from the Pathibhara company after suing. He said that they had to agree because the construction site is in the same place and two cable cars are not running. But the construction permit was not given by the ministry to anyone. After federalization, the authority to identify, implement, manage, monitor and regulate projects related to new tourism services came to the local level. After that, according to section 11 (6) of the Local Government Operation Act, 2074, the executive meeting of Fungling Municipality gave permission for construction to Pathibhara Mata Darshan Cable Car Pvt. Ltd. on June 13, 2075. Dhruv Narayan, who said that he kept two plantations and sold the rest, left after the company came under the ownership of Yeti Group.

So far there was no controversy in the district whether to build a cable car or not. There was a dispute between the Pathibhara Devi Temple Area Protection and Development Committee formed by citizens and the Pathibhara Area Development Committee formed by the government. The donation was being collected by the protection committee formed from the citizen level. DB Rai of the Congress became the chairman of the committee constituted by the government for 13 years. He used to implement the funds received from the government. The Preservation Committee used to collect the offerings made by the pilgrims at Pathibhara and spend it on electricity, footpaths, construction of Dharamshala, water management etc. to Pathibhara. The temple staff was also kept by the committee.

In 2070, Sajan Paudel became the chairman of the Regional Development Committee. He raised the voice that the donation of Pathibhara should be collected and mobilized by a committee under the government. The matter escalated and reached the administration. In the presence of the district coordination committee, local administration, municipality and both the disputed committees, it was decided to open a separate account for the donation collection and check the expenses of the district development committee and the protection committee. Employees were paid salaries from it. The offering collected in Pathibhara was brought to the District Coordination Committee and the process of counting began.

After Poudel, Pushpa Baduwal, who also participated in the cable car company, became the chairman of Pathibhara Area Development Committee in 2074. He was also the personal secretary when KP Sharma Oli was the home minister and was the first chairman of the out-of-district area development committee. Before and after that, the president and executive director of the regional development committee are from the district. The area development committee led by him increased the jurisdiction of Pathibhara through the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation in 2075. Formation of Pathibhara Area Development Committee (First Amendment) In Order 2075, an area three km from Pathibhara temple including Harkte in Sirijanga, Phungling-11 Simbu in Fawakhola, Paktanglung-3 Linkhim in west, Tapethok in Ward 4 was made Pathibhara area. 

The entire area of ​​Paktanglung-3 and Sirijunga-3 and 6 in the north and Fungling-10 in the south, Deurali of 9, Suketar Sano Pathibhara of 6 and Dudhi of Pathibhara Yangwarak-3 included the entire area of ​​the west in the Pathibhara region. After the federalization, the voices of Pathibhara temple in Paktanglung rural municipality and Kanchenjunga conservation area started to be raised. In the formation order of the Kanchenjunga conservation area, the wording that the Pathibhara temple was made a watershed has been used. Sajan Paudel, the previous chairman, is guessing that the Baduwal-led committee increased the area to protect Pathibhara. 

said that now the committee led by Rakki Thebe is discussing the issue of making the area of ​​Pathibhara the same as it was before the change. The Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council objected to the issue of increasing the area. Chairman of the council, Khagendra Phembu, approached the Supreme Court over the issue of jurisdiction. It was alleged that this group is trying to encroach on the temple area by increasing its jurisdiction. The opposition to the construction of the cable car is also found to have started from here. The Council of Ministers had already decided to provide the necessary land for the construction of the cable car. Phembu is the leader of the cable car abolition joint struggle committee.

Yeti Group has now sold the company to IME Group. Chandra Dhakal, who is also the president of Federation of Industries and Commerce, has led it. He has said that he is not aware of the previous disputes and as per his plan to make one/one cable car in all seven provinces, he is going to install a cable car in Pathibhara as well. He said that there is a plan to invest 3 billion rupees for the construction of a 2.75 km long cable car. "We took it two years ago after completing all the processes," he said. This issue has taken a national form. We should solve it at the national level and create an investment environment for us.'' Fembu claims that even before taking over the cable car, there was opposition to the cable car, but the voice was not strong.

Another reason for the controversy is the structures built in the Pathibhara area, according to Manmani Kafle, the outgoing Executive Officer of the Area Development Committee. According to him, Dillijung Maden, Surya Neyong, Devidas Gurung and others have kept a large idol of the goddess. Salik of National Bibhuti Falgunanda is also kept. There was also a dispute about whether to keep this salik or not. But the then executive director Udaya Bhattarai says that no one prevented Falgunanda's salik. "There was a general discussion about whether or not to keep the National Register of Citizens in Pathibhara, but no one interfered and there was no dispute," said Bhattarai. According to

Kafle, a team from the Department of Archeology was called to prepare the master plan of Pathibhara. The staff who came to the team expressed that there is cultural encroachment by placing idols and they should be removed to keep Pathibhara in its natural form. After that statement, it was first called Mukkumlung and then it was named Pathibhara due to encroachment. Now there is the Mukkumlung Protection Committee under the leadership of Mr. Prasad Limbu, the Pathibhara Cable Car Cancellation Joint Struggle Committee under the leadership of Phembu.

identitarian demands– 

'From major infrastructure prohibition to no effort' The permission to build a cable car in Pathibhara was given by the executive led by the previous city chief of Phungling, Chhatrapati Pyakurel. He made a procedure and took 12 million revenue. It is mentioned that the construction work should be completed in the first four years, then it can be operated for 20 years and after that it can be extended for another 20 years. The company did not start operations in four years after he gave permission. The cable car was linked to the boundary dispute between Pathibhara and Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCAP). During Pakurel's time, they did not extend the time after the construction period was over. After Amir Maden was elected as the head of the city, he extended his term. According to Fembu, they repeatedly requested the city chief Maden not to extend the deadline. Madden claims that the protesting party has no choice but to withdraw from its demands. "Before and after the election, I made a commitment to build a cable car, widen the road of the headquarters, and make an open field, and I asked for votes for the same from those who are protesting now," he said. Yogesh Bhattarai, a member of the House of Representatives, argues that the cable car is necessary because up to 1 million tourists will visit Taplejung every year after the construction of the cable car. Currently, around three lakh tourists visit Taplejung, after the construction of the cable car, that number will double/triple, it will increase the income and employment. That's why I said let's not protest, let's build.'' He said that the government should call for talks. "I have said that the Home Minister should also be invited to the talks," he said, "He must be preparing." They claim that Mukkumlung has been culturally encroached upon and is the birthplace of the Limbu community. The only demand of the protesting group is that no big infrastructure should be built in Mundhumisthal under any circumstances. Phembu, chairman of the Joint Struggle Committee for the abolition of Pathibhara Cable Car, said, "Even if it is built from Suketar to Upper Fedi, we will support it even if it is built in other places of the district, but above Kanchithan, we will not leave it even if we lose our lives." Now the 'No Koshi' movement is involved in this dispute. The pro-identity leader is now involved in the Mukkumlung conservation campaign. After the shooting in Baludanda last January 12, the leaders-activists including the federal chairman of Kirat Yakthung Chumlung, the central vice-chairman of the Rashtriya Janmukti Party, the general secretary of the Democratic National Forum, and others have been concentrated in Taplejung.