Today, in a meeting with the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sarbendra Nath Sukla, a delegation of Everest Sumitteers Association, requested for the release of Rs 500,000 promised to Appa Sherpa by the Government. The Government had announced cash prize of Rs 500,000 to Appa Sherpa when he climbed Mount Everest for the twelfth time, last year. Nearly a year has passed since and Appa Sherpa has already completed the thirteenth successful ascent. If the amount is not provided and the fiscal year ends, the amount will automatically lapse.

A press release received here today from the association, said that the delegation has also asked for any hill within two kilometers of the Nagarkot Tower to be named "Hillary Hill." The move will help in publicity of the local area, the delegates noted. Other demands put forward during the meeting include economic support from the government to conduct a "Himal Cleaning Campaign" to be organized next spring.

10 per cent of the revenue, raised from expeditionary teams for above 8,000 mountains, should be used in construction of roads and other physical infrastructures in the areas around them. The Minister is said to have responded positively towards the fulfillment of the demands and said that he would try to implement those that fall under the ministry's jurisdiction.

OTHER NEWS

• Clear skies of Nepal suitable for observatory: Nepal is one of the best places in the world for viewing the skies, claim astronomers. However, no observatory has been built for astronomical studies. Experts gathered recently at a seminar school on Astronomy and Astrophysics, to discuss the need to establish a planetarium observatory, organised by the B P Koirala Memorial Planetarium Observatory and Science Museum Development Board. The high altitude of the country together with less pollution, as compared to other countries, is the reasons for which experts believe why Nepal is an ideal place for astronomy. However, Dr Govinda Sharma, Vice-chancellor, Tribhuvan University said that due to lack of funding the University was unable to begin courses in astronomy and astrophysics in the Masters level.
  
  
• Government to re-examine some tourism policies: The government is currently reviewing the existing policy that restricts the visit by foreign tourists to some of the northern districts of Nepal and re-examining the prevailing system that compulsorily requires the inclusion of a government environment officer in the trekking teams trailing in a number of Himali routes. Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Survendra Nath Sukla said that the ministry is currently under consultations with other concerned ministries to analyse the impact of policy revocations on restricted sites and removal of environment officers from trekking teams.
  
  
• Focus on Nepal-Tibet relations: An interaction has been organised in the Tibet autonomous region of People's Republic of China with the objective of attracting entrepreneurs, businessmen and professionals from tourism sector in Tibet for the promotion of foreign investment, tourism and trade. Speaking at the programme Royal Nepalese Consulate-General Shankar Prasad Pandey stressed on the need of strengthening the historical, economic and tourism ties between Nepal and China.
  
  
• Government to channel funds for rural tourism infrastructure: The government has recently decided to grant 30 percent of the total income generated from the tourism sector to the local bodies for the development of tourism infrastructure in those regions, a senior level government official said today.
  
  
• Life is tough as ever in the remote frontier, Dolpa: "Dolpa has been forever neglected..." The statement from a teenager in Upper Dunai sums up the story of one of the most neglected and isolated districts of the country. As in all five districts of Karnali zone, Dolpa lacks access to the road. Flights are not only costly but also unreliable. The national flag carrier RNAC almost always cancels its flights, and private airlines target only foreigners and cargoes. Moreover, occasional food shortages, inadequate health infrastructure, among others, have made life in Dolpa almost unimaginable.
  
  
• For record-setting climber Appa's son, Everest holds no charm: This year, his eldest son of Appa Sherpa, 42 who scaled Mt. Everest for 13 times, including four times without oxygen, and recording his name in the Guinness book of world records for the highest number of ascents of the peak, Tenzing Jangbu Sherpa, became the first person in the Sherpa family to complete the School Leaving Certificate. Tenzing made it through in the second division, from Khumjung Secondary School. Considering the difficult times faced by Appa during his school days, he had enrolled his son as a boarder there. Despite the common perception that the future of a Sherpa's son lies in the mountains, Tenzing has quite different plans. "I won't be a climber," he told The Kathmandu Post after he was awarded full scholarship for six years of higher education by Nobel Academy in Baneswor, Kathmandu.
  
  

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu