Foot trail to Kali Gandaki Ghat constructed

By Our Correspondent,Beni, May 7: A foot trail has been constructed to reach the Kali Gandaki Ghat at Dhairing in Ward No. 7 of Jaljala Rural Municipality of Parbat district. Ghat is a place on the edge of a river where Hindus cremate dead bodies. 

The Gandaki Province government’s Tourism Ministry had allocated a budget of Rs. 1.5 million for the foot trail which connects Milan Chowk to Bhedabari-based Shivalaya. The ward office had requested the provincial government to invest in the project.

The foot trail has made it easier for mourners to carry dead bodies and reach the Kali Gandaki Ghat, situated along the bank of the Kali Gandaki River, via the Shivalaya. 

“The foot trail is 1.5-metres-wide and 138-metres-long and has a railing for support,” said Rudralal Acharya, chairman at the Foot Trail Construction Committee.

According to Acharya, people had to walk very carefully to reach the Ghat due to a narrow and slippery path.

“It would be more difficult during monsoon to reach the Ghat with a dead body. Now, the foot trail has made it much easier,” said Hari Acharya, a local.

However, locals argued that a similar foot trail was essential from the bank of the Kali Gandaki River to Bhumethan.

“If the higher authorities believed it as a necessity and allocated the budget, we want to construct a foot trail from the river bank to Bhumethan via Salyan, Guntekihet and Dharapani,” said Acharya.

Locals expect that the foot trail to Bhumethan would make it easier to reach the Bhumethan Temple, a famous Hindu religious shrine, and increase the possibilities of development through tourism in the region.