Jamunkhadi Community Forest User Group and Jamunkhadi Wetlands located in Kankai Municipality-1 and 2 of Jhapa have been developed into tourist destinations.
Parshuram Giri, president of Jamunkhadi Community Forest Consumer Group, informed that more than five thousand domestic and foreign tourists have arrived in Jamunkhadi, one of the old tourist destinations of the East established in 2065, on the occasion of New Year on 1st Baisakh.
Jamunkhadi, which has been famous for seven or eight years and has become an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists, has been overshadowed recently, he said, but now the arrival of tourists has increased.
Jamunkhadi has been organized and more attractions have been added, he says, and the arrival of tourists has increased . He informed that various attractive statues have been installed recently with the construction of children's garden.
Jamunkhadi Community Forest, which has been providing safe shelter to vulnerable wild animals since its establishment, has wetlands and tourist areas in 32 hectares out of the total forest area of 443 hectares. Recalling that the government provided protection to the unprotected animals when the government did not allow wild animals to be reared in the community forest, President Giri approved the procedures made by the community forest in 2072 by the Division Forest Office. Said he did.
According to the same procedure, construction of infrastructure, construction of habitat for wild animals is going on, he said. Currently, there is a managed deer reserve in 11 bighas in the wetland area, while there is a safe residential area for other wild animals.
Chital, deer, boar, leopard, bear, dragon, monkey, cucumber, different species of mice, ducks, different species of birds. The forest group has arranged for proper feeding of those wild animals.
Secretary of Forest Group, Deepak Oli, said that the 1.5 million rupees provided by the state government in the financial year 2075/076 has been built for wildlife protection. He says that the Tourism Board is providing necessary assistance.
Recalling that Jamunkhadi, which is full of natural beauty, once had two to three lakh domestic and foreign tourists annually, Secretary Oli says, 'Due to lack of funds, we have not been able to develop the tourist spot in time. If the government supports the hard work we are doing, there is no problem in developing Jamunkhadi as a model tourist spot.' "We have just built a children's park", he said, "this is also attracting tourists." He says that the attraction is increasing one by one.
The Treasurer of Forest Group, Chetkumari Sapkota (Rachna), said that the animals protected here have to be fed daily, so there is financial shortage. He says that when the arrival of tourists is low, they have to rush to avoid expenses. "There are more than 15 employees, they should be paid", she said, "even if the employees are paid slowly, they have to manage everything from grass to meat for the animals, there is a lack of funds for that." The entry fee is 100 for visitors, while a separate fee is charged for games such as boat ride, train and car rides in the children's garden.
