Dhangadi, February 26 President Bidya Devi Bhandari today started her four-day visit to Sudurpaschim Province. During her visit, Bhandari is scheduled to attend eight programmes in five districts. On the first day of her visit, Bhandari inaugurated World Nepali Literature festival in Dhangadi. Inaugurating the programme, Bhandari expressed confidence that the festival would help promote Nepali language and literature. “I hope that the programme will help unite people speaking the Nepali language across the world,” she stated. Bhandari remembered Doteli littérateurs Prithvi Bahadur Singh and Pahalman Singh. She added that empowering universities and colleges was essential for protecting the languages and cultures of the province. At the programme, former prime minister and littérateur Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that Sudurpaschim was the epicentre of Nepali language. He stressed the need to promote Nepali language and literature.