Tourism Minister stresses on tourism promotion through river conservation

KATHMANDU: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey, has stressed on collaboration and coordination of all sides in the conservation of rivers, calling on all to take this topic seriously.

He said so while inaugurating the Photo Nepal Exhibition initiated by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) today.

The Tourism Minister opened the Exhibition by holding a photo captioned ‘Karnali River: Photos of Three Countries’. The photos under this series were taken by Nabin Baral.

Minister Pandey reminded on the occasion that the infrastructure and physical structures should be constructed without spoiling the natural beauty of the rivers.

“The discussions being held on the conservation of important river systems of the country, including the Karnali River and preventing the illegal exploitation of the river-based aggregates, should be taken seriously,” he said, adding that activities like setting up crusher industry and building hydropower projects close to the river bank have been harming the natural flow of rivers.”

Minister Pandey said that the impact of climate change is increasing due to unbalanced exploitation of the natural resources by developed countries and expressed concern over the lack of snow in Annapurna base camp and other mountains.

He added that the melting of the snow in the mountains is affecting the entire world from the mountains to hills and beaches.

NTB Chief Executive Officer Deepak Raj Joshi said that ‘Photo Nepal’ is an effective platform to promote Nepal’s tourism through photography.

The two-day exhibition showcases ‘Karnali River: Photographs of Three Countries (China, Nepal and India)’ presented by Nabin Baral.

According to the Board, the pictures on display have captured the amazing beauty of the Karnali River through a 1,080 kilometres long adventure tour in 45 days.