By Rajan Rawat, Humla, Mar. 14: Straw and mud roofed houses at Nekpa village in Chankheli Rural Municipality-5 of Humla district have been replaced with houses with corrugated zinc sheet thanks to the increase in the income of the local from the sale of medicinal herbs.

A family in this remote village of 66 households earns at least eight hundred thousand rupees from the collection and sale of medicinal herbs, according to Bhim Tamang, a local.

Another local, Buddhi Tamang, said that there was a trend to replace mud or straw roofed houses with the galvanised tin sheet ones as income of the locals from the sale of herbal plants has gone up.

Out of 66 houses in the village which were all straw-roofed, roofs of 44 houses have been replaced with corrugated zinc in the last two years. There are only 22 houses yet to be tin-roofed.

Moreover, rise in income from the sale of herbal plants has also enabled the villagers to send their children for higher education in the district headquarters, Simkot, and other cities.

Modern basic facilities such as internet service is yet to reach this far flung village.

Bhairab Tamang, Chair of Chankheli Rural Municipality-5, shared his happiness for the fact that the tin roofs have now made the village safe from rain water of the rainy season the snow in the winter. “We are making plan to replace the remaining houses with tin roofing, and this year many houses will be replaced with the tin roof.”