Sangita Sarki of Tatopani Rural Municipality-4 booked a Nepal Airlines ticket on Chaitra 2. She is 24 weeks pregnant. After booking the ticket, she rushed to the airport for a few days, hoping that the plane would arrive. She gave up going to the airport after the flight did not arrive even though the schedule was set. Her hopes of reaching Nepalgunj by plane have been dashed because she is pregnant. She said that she has to endure daily frustration due to the flight cancellation.

Sangita, who has been undergoing treatment at the Karnali Institute of Health Sciences for a month, is going to a hospital in Nepalgunj for further treatment. She has a referral document from the institute on her phone. ‘I am suffering every day in the hope of the plane taking off,’ said Sangita. ‘The doctor has said that the situation is complicated. The plane that was supposed to arrive has not arrived either. We are in trouble.’ Traveling for pregnant women is difficult because the Karnali Highway is unpaved. That is why his family has been waiting for the plane.

Bhuvan Devkota of Chandannath-10, who has been having problems with his legs for a month, reached the airport on Sunday on crutches. However, he was unable to fly. He has been waiting for the plane since Falgun 17. Despite getting a Nepal Airlines ticket, he has not been able to fly. He alleges that government planes are causing hardship by not flying to remote areas.

Currently, private airline flights are also not operating. All flights are focused on ferrying tourists. Bhagwati Rokaya of Tripurasundari Rural Municipality in Dolpa was going to Kathmandu for further treatment after undergoing breast surgery. She, who had been rushing to the airport for nine days, was also unable to fly. ‘We reached the airport happy with the hope of the plane coming,’ she said, ‘The news of the sudden cancellation made us disappointed.’

These are the representative characters who were unable to fly even after buying tickets. Passengers are in trouble as government aircraft do not operate regular flights. As private airlines focus on commercial flights, only government aircraft operate flights in Karnali. There are 3 flights per week from Nepalgunj and 2 from Surkhet. Passengers are stranded when the aircraft does not arrive as per the schedule. A flight from Nepalgunj to Jumla was scheduled for Sunday. Passengers had checked their luggage and waited. Suddenly, the passengers got angry after being informed that the flight was canceled due to bad weather.

They had been coming to the airport for nine days without checking their luggage and returning. 'The weather was fine on Sunday. There was no cloud in the sky. There was also little wind,' said local Chandralal Neupane, 'the aircraft could not arrive at this time. The patients returned home. Passengers were forced to protest. Assistant Chief District Officer Min Bahadur Rawal said that discussions are underway with the Nepal Airlines Corporation and the concerned bodies to regularize flights. Locals are saddened that due to irregular flight services, people in remote districts of Karnali are forced to risk their lives and choose expensive private flights or difficult road travel.