Dhangadhi, August 5:

A total of eight tourists have entered and 10 left Nepal via Dhangadhi transit point immigration

office, this year. The office, established in 1991, saw a modest number tourists during the early years of its establishment, though now the number has decreased dramatically. According to a statistic provided by the office, only eight tourists entered Nepal from Dhangadhi terminal in the FY 2004-05. Likewise, it is stated that 54 tourists entered Nepal in 1991, 71 in 1992, 26 in 1993, 99 in 1994, 44 in 1995, 43 in 1996, 47 in 1997, 16 in 1998 and 38 in 1999. Staying with the pattern only 49 tourists used this route in 2000, 49 in 2001, 20 in 2002, 24 in 2003, 11 in 2004 and eight tourists entered from this route till July 2005. Two peons, one non-gazetted officer and one clerk have been appointed in this office, which has less than Rs 10,000 annual income. But the expenditure of the office exceeds Rs 400,000 annually. Acting Office Chief, Tek Bahadur Bhandari, also says that he has nothing to do but sit idly in the office. Presently, office chief, Chet Raj Joshi is in holiday and Kharidar Laxmi Prasad Timilsina is also on transfer elsewhere. Meanwhile, need for animal quarantine has also been felt in the border region as low quality meat and eggs have been entering from India via this terminal. Poultry farmer Ram Janam Chaudhari said that this is affecting the sale of Nepali eggs.