By Amarraj Naharki
Tanahun, Nov. 5: A statue of pigeon, constructed in Parewa Hill of Byas Municipality-10 in Tanahun, has been instrumental to attract a lot of tourists in recent times.
As many tourists used to visit the hill for enjoying the beautiful view and the pigeons, a statue of pigeon was installed to further increase the flow of tourists.
Tulasiram Sapkota, ward chair of Byas-10, said that the tourists' inflow had increased after the people visiting the hill posted photos on various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among others.
"Social media platforms helped a lot in promoting the hill as many visitors used to click pictures with the statue and upload it on social media," said Sapkota.
He added that after the number of people visiting the place started increasing, the municipality prohibited killing of pigeon with catapults.
"There are many places in this ward such as Dumsichaur, Kumaltari and Pathraghat holding historical significance. We have planned to conserve these places to boost local tourism in our municipality," said ward chair Sapkota.
He added that the ward had planned to give life to whatever is famous in the area by installing statues resembling them.
"We had planned to build a couple of pigeon statues in the Parewa Hill, where a pigeon has been built while the other one will complete in a few days," Sapkota said.
The ward no. 10 office informed that Rs. 600,000 budget was allocated for the making of two pigeon statues which are seven feet tall, weighing around four tons.
"A statue of porcupine will be built at Dumsichaur, statue of Kumal people making Ari (Saw), Ghaito and Hukka will be built at Kumaltari and a statue of a steersman rowing a boat will be built in Pathraghat," said Sapkota.
He further added that construction of pigeons in Parewa Hill and porcupine in Dumsichaur had moved forward for this year.
The ward office said that statues were also being built to make the upcoming generation aware about the tradition, culture and historical importance of the place.
Baikuntha Neupane, mayor of Byas Municipality, said that the municipality had kept identifying and conserving the areas with historical, religious and cultural importance in first priority.
"We believe that we can attract numbers of tourists if we protect and promote the cultural and religious heritages within the municipality," said Neupane.
Sudeep Neupane, branch manager at Mahalaxmi Bank Limited, Damauli, said that the pictures and videos floating all over social media platforms had encouraged him to visit the Parewa Hill.
Likewise, Kabita Nepali, a local of Charkune in Byas Municipality-1, said that she found the pigeon's statue very attractive. "I wanted to visit this place after seeing the pictures of the pigeon statue on Facebook. I finally came here with my family, the place is indeed beautiful as seen in the pictures," said Nepali.