Chumchaur on the list of tourist destinations

Jumla. Chumchaur in Patarasi village municipality of Jumla has been included in the list of new tourist destinations. Among the list of 200 tourist destinations of the Government of Nepal, Chumchaur Jiulo, which grows Kali Marsidhan paddy, has been ranked as the highest in the world.

Jumla is also on the list of tourist destinations made public by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. The tourism destination has been selected in partnership with Patarasi village municipality to run the infrastructure development program of the tourist destination.

The ministry has selected 200 destinations at 200 local levels across the country to be completed within a maximum of three years. Chumchaur Jiulo of Patarasi Village Municipality-3 has been included in the list of tourist destinations out of seven villages including one municipality of Jumla. The Ministry of Tourism has stated that the list of tourist destinations has been selected and the aim is to preserve and promote Chumchaur Jiulo and Kalimarsi paddy produced there.

The village municipality will share Rs. 6 million and the ministry will share Rs. 14 million to complete the project selected as a tourist destination. Chumchaur Jiulo, which is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for growing Marsidhan at an altitude of 2,850 meters, belongs to Patarasi village. According to the locals, the land has been registered in 2019 BS and planting of paddy has been started from 2021 BS.

At the time of planting paddy, all the farmers were going to Patan to pick yarsa, so they stopped planting paddy. At that time, only children and the elderly were at home, so Jiulo was barren for some time. There is a history of planting rice in Chumchaur by taking a berna of paddy from Sera Jiulo near Chandannath Bhairavnath temple in Jumla.

Amar Budha, a local, said that they have stopped planting paddy gradually due to lack of fencing, lack of irrigation, paddy planting and Yarsa harvesting season in Patan. Ward Chairman Birkharam Bohora said that Marcy paddy has been planted in the area recently.

Village Municipality Chairman Lachhiman Bohora said that the municipality has allocated necessary budget to make Chumchaur a tourist destination. Paddy has been planted in 200 ropanis of land here. The Ministry has selected the plan and the local level where the plan will be implemented as per the Tourism Infrastructure Construction and Tourism Product Development Partnership (Operation and Management) Directive, 2077 BS.

Chief Administrative Officer Tek Bahadur Budhapa said that a DPR (Detailed Project Report) of about Rs.8 crore Jumla’s Dundul Chaitya and Sinja Valley were included in the list of central tourist destinations for the tourism year 2020. – Rasas