At least 18 mountaineers, who have climbed the Mt. Everest, took part in a rally in front of the United Nations building on Tuesday at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 47th Street, New York, USA, as the world leaders gathered inside the UN building.

The climbers included Appa Sherpa (20 times climber), Ang Chhiring Sherpa (first South Asian journalist to summit), Nima Gombu Sherpa (15 times climber), Pasag Rinji Sherpa (five times climber), Ang Pasang Sherpa, Ang Phurba Sherpa and Chuldim Nurbu Sherpa.

Likewise, other summiteers to join the rally were Kipa Sherpa, Lakpa Gelje Sherpa, Mingma Chiring Sherpa, Mingma Nurbu Sherpa, Pasang Kami Sherpa, Chuldim Nuru Sherpa, Serap Jangbu Sherpa, Sonam Sherpa,Nima Gombu Sherpa, Ang Babu ( Jinpa) Sherpa, AC Sherpa and Dawa Stephen Sherpa.

The rally was organised as a series of events that started with a cabinet meeting at Kalapaththar, the Everest base camp and an awareness rally at Copenhagen, Denmark.

Speaking at the event, the head of the Nepal’s delegation to the United Nation and the minister for home affairs, Bhim Bahadur Rawal, appealed to the world leaders to pay attention and support to check the melting of Himalayas.

Expressing the government’s commitment to save the Himalayas, minister Rawal also praised the efforts of the non-resident Nepalis in the issue.

Meanwhile, coordinator of the event, Ang Chirring Sherpa welcomed the crowd and his opening remarks included witnessing melting snows and glaciers in the region.

President of NRN America, Suman R. Timsina, said, “This is not just a task or an event but a responsibility of every Nepali and an issue of identity.”

The permanent representative of Nepal to the UN, Gyan Chandra Acharya, expressed that his office was fully committed to influence other nations in his capacity at UN regarding Save the Himalayas.

Similarly, former Assistant Secretary General of the UN, Kul Chandra Gautam, asked everyone to act from an individual level and thanked the organisers for such a rally in a timely manner.

During the event, noted folk singer Prem Raja Mahat dedicated a song to the theme of Save the Himalayas and his song drew serious attention to Nepali identity, climate change and socio-cultural and environmental impact.

An online petition to collect signatures was also taken to the United Nations with the help of Nepal Mission to get signature of other nations to appeal to the UN and global community to Save the Himalayas.

The event organisers are planning to submit a petition to the UN Secretary General and finally to world leaders.

The rally was organised by NRN America in collaboration with the Government of Nepal and National Trust for Nature Conservation.

Representatives from over 10 States and a number of Nepali organisations participated in the rally, sponsored by local supporters. source:nepalnews

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has recently conducted a survey entitled “Survey of Indian Visitors to Nepal by Land 2009.”

The survey makes an attempt to add to the current streams of data on the Indian tourist arrivals to Nepal providing valuable support to tourism industry, policy makers and planners, read a press statement released by the NTB.

The survey has come out with the number of Indian tourists entering Nepal in 2009 from eight major entry points along Nepal-India border.

So far, the tourism statistics included only the Indian tourists entering Nepal by air and third country tourists entering by air and overland, completely excluding the Indian tourists entering Nepal through the various entry points along Nepal-India broader, the statement said.

As Indian tourists entering Nepal via land are not required to register or go through frontier formalities, the large number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal via land has never been accounted in the available tourist arrivals data.

Based on the estimates made in the survey, 429,455 tourists have entered Nepal from India using various means of surface transportation.

The survey excludes those crossing the border on foot and continuing the journey into Nepal from India on Nepali vehicles.

With the assumption in the survey that only Indians crossing the border by vehicle are to be counted as tourists and also taking into account the third country tourists, it has been estimated that there were at least 298,821 Indian tourists coming to Nepal via land in the year 2009. The number of third country tourists entering into Nepal from India was 130,634, according to the statement.

This survey estimated the number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal through the eight border points along Nepal-India: Birgunj, Kakarbhitta, Rani (Biratnagar), Belihiya (Bhairawa), Nepalgunj, Dhangadi, Janakpur (Vittamod), Gaddachowki (Mahendranagar) for an overnight stay or longer. However, it does not include the data of Indian tourists entering Nepal through Tatopani (Kodari) entry point. source:nepalnews

SpiceJet Ltd. from India is all set to start flights between New Delhi and Kathmandu from October 7, 2010.

The airline is set to operate six return flights a week. The airline, known as a low-fare carrier, has fixed the air tickets price beginning from INR.1, 499 (excluding taxes) for the flight between New Delhi and Kathmandu.

SpiceJet will be using Boeing 737-800 aircraft which has the capacity of 189 passengers.

SpiceJet has appointed Zenith Travels as its General Sales Agent (GSA) in Nepal. The travel agency believes that the low-fare carrier would be supportive to increase Indian tourists during Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011) through its operation.

SpiceJet also hopes that the operation of its flights will contribute to make NTY-2011 a grand success by its quality service.

The airline is also beginning Chennai-Colombo flights from October 9, 2010.
source:nepalnews