Kathmandu Post

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Five more days to climb Dharahara

KATHMANDU, JAN 13 - The continuous and increasing flow of visitors to the Dharahara has resulted in the extension of the Dharahara Week ‘A Peep through Bhimsen Tower’ for five more days.
Uttam Thapa, managing director of Sukunda Event Management, an event management group that has been looking after the management of Dharahara Week programme said, "Taking in view the increasing number of visitors everyday and on the request of the general public, the Dharahara Week has been extended for five more days."
The Dharahara, where public entrance is normally prohibited was opened to the public for a week to mark the Ninth Anniversary of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).
During the one-week period, a total of 6,714 people, including 14 foreigners, made their way atop historic Dharahara. Among them, 2,875 were students. On the occasion, some elderly people, physically-challenged and small children were allowed to enter the Dharahara free of charge.
Roma Neupane, one of the two persons to step atop Dharahara on the crutches said, "It is nice to be atop Dharahara." However, she did not like the view of concrete buildings seen from the Dharahara.
Like Roma many visitors complained that the city was turning into a concrete jungle. However, those equipped with camera and binoculars repented the hazy atmosphere enveloping the capital.
Tek Bahadur Basnet, 78, and Jwala Prasad Shrestha, 77, said that it was their long aspired dream to climb atop the Dharahara and expressed their gratitudeto the organisers for making their dream come true.
Most people said merely spending 15-20 minutes inside the Dharahara was not enough to quench their thirst.
According to managing director of the event,Uttam Thapa, Dal Bahadur Thapa, 87, was the oldest person to visit the Dharahara. Krishna Kandel, 22,came on the crutches, and Som Kumar Dulal, 17, Bishnu Prasad Poudyal and Deepak Khanal were visually-impaired visitors to the historic Dharahara.Posted on: 2004-01-14 04:08

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