Jet boats boost Ruru Kshetra tourism

By Our Correspondent,Resunga, Jan. 17: Jet boat rides have emerged as a major attraction at the Ruru Fair held at Ridi, the confluence of Gulmi, Palpa, and Syangja districts. 

On the very first day of the fair on Tuesday, as many as 683 people purchased tickets and enjoyed jet boat rides within just three hours.

Local youths from the Ruru Kshetra have jointly launched the jet boat service by creating an artificial lake after temporarily blocking the river at Ridi. 

Nine local youths invested Rs. 10 million to construct the lake for this purpose. The lake has been created by damming the river stretch between Ridi Bridge and Tinmukhe Bridge.

Currently, two jet boats with a capacity of accommodating 11 people each are being operated temporarily until June, said the chairperson of the private company, Rabi Lal Pantha. There is a plan to build a permanent lake with an RCC dam next year.

Currently, the lake is 300 metres long, 60 meters wide, and three meters deep. He said that the environmental impact assessment of the lake has also been completed. He said that new work has been in progress to increase the tourist attraction of Ruru Kshetra.

Ruru Dham is a famous religious area. Religious tourists who come to bathe in Kaligandaki and visit the Rishikesh Temple do not spend their days idly. 

Especially during Maghe Sankranti, a large number of religious tourists from various parts of the country and even from India visit the place. Ruru Dham has been promoted from a religious and tourist perspective in recent times. 

Ruru Kshetra connects the main Kaligandaki and Madanbhandari highways in the country. Chairman of Ruru Kshetra Rural Municipality, Yadu Gyawali, said that as they were unaware of the legal issues of the lake, temporary structures were being constructed at personal expense.

He said that as the work of the youth would promote tourism through sports, permanent work and legal issues would be discussed. 

An agreement has been reached to build a zipline near Ruru Dham to connect Ruru Kshetra Rural Municipality and Kaligandaki Rural Municipality of Syangja. Gyawali said that preparations were being made on some land and operational plans.