87-year-old Kamala Bisht is currently in the district hospital. A resident of Fungling Municipality-4, his family wants to take him to Kathmandu for further treatment. Because of vomiting (nausea), it is difficult for the family to take it to the car. Grandson Suraj Ojha is in the mood to get a fully equipped ambulance from Jhapa.

 But even before, traveling by car caused a lot of vomiting and it was difficult to travel, so other members of the family did not accept it. Seeing the pain, the family is in a dilemma whether to lead her in the car or listen to Aiya's voice. Currently, the only Suketar airport in the district is closed. So the family has no other option.

Kendrasingh Limbu of Paktanglung rural municipality-2 Khezenim was brought home from the district hospital by his grandson Shravan Limbu. After being treated for three days at the district hospital, the doctor advised to take him to Ghopa in Kathmandu or Dharan. He said that he had to send the sick Baje home because he did not want to go in the car and there was no ship.

'I brought the village with the mindset of taking it whenever the ship is running,' he said.  The Suketar Airport has been closed since the last week of November after the Twinator ship of Nepal Air Service Corporation was grounded. As long as there were two ships of the corporation, there were flights between Kathmandu and Taplejung five days a week.

After one flight was grounded and only one started to operate, there was one flight per week. In that flight, the disabled, sick and those in urgent need were given priority. But after the flight itself was halted, the sick and disabled were the most affected. Assistant Station Incharge Kumar Gurung says that there are no flights in the district after November 24. "Every day, two or four people come to ask if the ship has been built," Gurung added.

Apart from Taplejung, passengers from Panchthar's Yangwarak, Hilihang and Tehrithum's Atharai Rural Municipality used to board the ship from Suketar. Now you have to reach Bhadrapur in Jhapa or Biratnagar in Morang to board a ship from Taplejung headquarter. It takes at least eight to nine hours to reach here from the headquarters.

It is not comfortable for passengers because there are potholes on the unpaved road. The number of people who vomit is more due to the fact that there are more travelers. Suketar Airport has a 950 meter tarmac runway. Small ships of private companies can also stay. But even private companies have not shown interest in flying. 

Former Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai's district is the complaint of the activists that they are not interested. Local Kalpana Gurung complained about lack of coordination with private companies. Bhattarai's secretariat has claimed that coordination is underway. Prem Guragain of the Secretariat said, "In coordination with the Taplejung Concern Center, there has been a delegation to go and talk with the Minister, the results will be good." "Taplejung gets five flights a week with two ships of NA," he said, "They did not talk about meeting the immediate demand, otherwise they talked about going with a team including district MPs."