By Our Correspondent
Taplegunj, Dec. 29: People of Ghunsa and Lelepa of Faktanglung Rural Municipality-6 in Taplejung district have started leaving their villages to avoid extreme cold because of regular snowfall in their settlements in the high mountainous region.
Half of the villagers of Ghunsa have left their villages to escape the severe cold.

Ghunsa, a tourist settlemtn, and the entrance point to Kanchenjunga located 3,400 metres above sea level, has 37 households. Of them, around 25 families left the village after the area started receiving heavy snowfall.
Kelsang Sherpa, a local, said that Ghunsa and the surrounding areas started receiving snowfall from last week, prompting the inhabitants of the village of the high mountainous areas to migrate to district headquarters Phungling, Kathmandu and Darjeeling of India, he said.

For three months, from mid-December to mid-March Ghunsa village is blanketed with snow and the temperature falls sharply.
The villagers start returning to the village only after mid-March, said Pema Sherpa.

Some families of Fale of Lelepa, Olangchunggola and Yangma have also left their settlements to avoid chilling cold of winter.
People of Tokpegola of Papung of Mikwakhola Rural Municipality-5 have already left their village after the temperature dipped.

The villagers have shifted in the lower areas of Papung from their traditional settlement, said Dandu Lama, ward chairman of Papung-5.