The Nepali herbal trade is also good in Taklakot. Some traders also visit there every year to sell herbs including Yarsagumba, Furu, Gucci Mushroom, Thakna.
What you should know
With the onset of the snowfall season, youth from Humla who had gone to Taklakot, China for employment have started returning.
This year, 10,955 youth went to Taklakot for employment. This is the first time that Humla residents have gone to Taklakot for employment after the Corona pandemic. To go there, you need to obtain a border entry permit for one year from the District Administration Office. According to the administration, this year, 8,237 people had new and 2,718 people had renewed their border passes. DSP Shankar Pokharel of the District Police Office, Humla said that 15 to 50 youth are currently returning from Taklakot daily.
Pasang Tamang of Namkha Rural Municipality-3 said that he earned about 600,000 rupees while living in Taklakot for about 5 months. ‘Before Corona, we used to stay here for 6 months and there for 6 months, Taklakot opened again this year,’ he said, ‘We returned when the snow season started there, we will go again in Baisakh.’
Kunsang Tamang of Halji in Namkha Rural Municipality said that the youth returning from there bring food, clothes and consumer goods that will last for about a year. ‘They earn up to 1.5 lakh rupees a month, it is not difficult to find work carrying heavy loads, building houses, and repairing roads,’ he said, ‘The earnings of 5/6 months there are enough for the entire family for the whole year.’ He also returned after working in Taklakot for about 5 months.
Since you can go with a pass from the district administration and the earnings are good, the youth of Humla go to Taklakot for employment and business. When returning from Taklakot, the road to Nara Lake, which is about 5,000 meters high, is closed after snowfall, so locals return before the snowfall, said the vice-chairman of the rural municipality, Takdir Lama. According to him, about a thousand youth from the municipality had gone to Taklakot.
‘For the youth here, China is the only employment destination like the Gulf countries and European countries, and even in Taklakot, it is easy to go for labor,’ he said, ‘When the border was closed due to the Corona pandemic, it was as if the youth were cut off, but now there is hope that poverty here will decrease and livelihood will be easier.’
Pemba Tamang of Namkha-5 said that daily wage earners in Taklakot earn an average of 300 Chinese yuan (sukr) per day. According to him, the Nepali exchange rate of the currency is 19 rupees 45 paise. ‘Rations and room rent are also cheap, food and accommodation costs 15 to 25 thousand rupees,’ he said, ‘so even if you work for 3/4 months a year, you can meet your expenses for the whole year.’
The residents of Namkha and Simkot go to Taklakot the most. Namgyal Tamang, former president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that about 70 percent of the youth from these two municipalities have gone to Taklakot. According to him, the trade of Nepali herbs is also good in Taklakot. Due to which, some traders from Humla also go there every year to sell herbs including Yarsagumba, Furu, Gucci mushrooms, Thakna.
The Chinese government had closed the Hilsa border for about four years due to the Corona epidemic. Taklakot is the headquarters of Pulan County (district) under the Chinese autonomous region of Xizang (Tibet). The pass issued by the district administration allows you to travel 30 kilometers to Taklakot towards China, said Humla Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi. According to him, Taklakot is a later developed city. Due to which work on the construction of new infrastructure is also easily available. But he says that due to the lack of a labor agreement between Nepal and China, the locals are deprived of the wages set by the government.
