Revenue collection

KAKARVITTA: Mechi customs office collected Rs 8.1 million revenue through case settlements within the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The office settled 142 cases of theft and illegal export and import within the period, according to an employee at the case settlement section, Prem GC.

Workers’ demand

PARSA: Workers affiliated to Nepal Agricultural workers’ Union have claimed that Birgunj sugar factory that is shut since February 2003 can be resumed with investment of Rs 200 million. Submitting a memorandum to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal via the chief district officer on Tuesday, union s chairman Lakhan Lal Shah said the government should not invest a huge amount for the reopening of the factory as there are ultra-modern materials already there in the factory. He said over 10,000 people and sugarcane farmers are hit hard after it closed down.

Tourist arrivals

KANCHANPUR: Arrival of foreign tourists via Gaddachauki, the western border of Kanchanpur district, has risen because of easy access to transportation and availability of well-facilitated hotels in the border area. According to Gaddachauki Immigration Office, a total number of 2,034 tourists came to Nepal while 1,510 went from Nepal in 2009. Some 250 foreigners entered Nepal till this February. It collected over Rs 2.5 million revenue by mid-February, said office chief Ran Bahadur Bista.

Master plan

BIRATNAGAR: Shankarbeli Community Forest users’ group in Sunsari has prepared a 10-year master plan to develop community forests in the district as tourist destinations. The district has 29.5 per cent forest cover including 6,668 hectares of productive forest, 10,835 hectares of protected forest, 10,689 hectares of forest in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and 1495 hectares of leasehold forest. Shankarbeli Community Forest has tourist spots Bishnupaduka and Pindeshwor Mahadev as well as Dharan in the north, district headquarters Inaruwa and Jhumka bazaar in the north, Itahari in the east and Ramdhuni and Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in the west. The community forest located in Baklauri VDC has 465 hectares of land.