Sirijangha tourism festival held

By Chandra Pandak, Taplejung, Apr 28: With a main focus on attracting more tourists to Kanchanjanga area, a tourism festival has been organized at an altitude of 3,400 meters, at Jhoreni of Sirijangha Rural Municipality-8.

Kanchanjangha is the third highest peak in the world.

Named as Sirijangha Tourism Festival, the three-day tourism fair also targeted to create awareness on the adverse effect of climate change on the mountains and finding ways to conserve endangered species including red panda in the Himalayan region, said Dr. Chitra Kumar Mabo, vice-chairperson of the Sirijanga Rural Municipality.

Lal Krishna Chauhan, chairman of the Rural Municipality, said the festival was for publicity of Kanchanjanga Mountain so as to attract more foreign and domestic tourists in this pristine area.

Adventure trekking, marathon, exhibition of yak and mountain cow was also organized during the festival. The winners of the competitions were awarded with cash prize.

Khagen Singh Hangam, provincial minister for industry, agriculture and cooperatives of Koshi Province, distributed the awards to the winners and viewed that the fair would help promote tourism in the area.