Barju Festival held in Sunsari

BY JAYA KRISHNA YADAV,Inaruwa, Jan. 19: Fourth Barju Festival organised to promote local tourism at Barju Lake of Chimadi in Barju Rural Municipality-3, Sunsari concluded on Wednesday. According to the organisers of the festival more than 300,000 Nepali and Indian people had visited the festival held at Gate No. 1 of Barju Lake which started on December 6. 

The performance of Bojpuri film superstar Khesari Lal Yadav from Bihar of India was the central attraction of the festival where locally produced goods were also displayed. Similarly, performances of other artists and sports activities were also displayed in the festival. 

The unique performance of superstar Yadav on Tuesday was able to attract more than 100,000 people in a single day, informed organiser Shrawan Chaudhary, chairman of the Barju Community Development Centre. 

According to Chaudhary, this year, the festival ended peacefully except for some disputes on charging Rs. 500 as entrance fee on the day of superstar Yadav’s performance. 

He said that last year the audience got infuriated after the performance of superstar Yadav got cancelled and had vandalised the stage and four vehicles with Indian number plates and set the venue on fire. Property worth of Rs. 10 million was damaged in the incident, he added. 

The organising committee informed that it had expected the transaction of more than Rs. 100 million in the festival since the visitors had increased by more than 100,000 this year. 

There were 50 stalls at the festival. Chaudhary informed that the festival had been organised for the past four years to promote Barju Lake as a tourist destination among internal and external tourists. 

The lake with an area of 152 bighas is at a distance of 18 kilometres of Inaruwa and 9 kilometres west of Baragachi Chowk of Biratnagar.

More than a hundred thousand of people had visited the festival since one could observe hundreds of species of birds and water animals, attractive lakes, rock formations, resting places, scenic views with blooming green forests and nature around the festival venue. 

Pramod Chowdhury, chief administrative officer of Barju, said that the festival was being organised at Barju Lake to promote the region, which is rich in tourism potential but has been overshadowed due to lack of publicity.

Municipality chair Bijay Raya said that the festival had concluded successfully. He stressed on the need of promotion of the place which is filled with various species of birds and properly managed picnic spot, boating and fun park for kids.