Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 15

Continuing the tour of the mid-western region, King Gyanendra and Queen Komal today visited Pyuthan, Salyan, Dang and Rolpa districts.

The DDC chairman of Dang and head of the felicitation committee, Devendra Giri, read the letter of felicitation on behalf of the people of Dang. The letter highlighted problems created by the armed conflict and the Rapti River. The letter has demanded irrigation projects in Dang and Deukhuri and construction of roads including the Rapti highway and one linking Koilabas to Swargadhwari among others.

Vice-chancellor of Mahendra Sanskrit University, Purna Chandra Dhungel, the mayor of the Tribhuvan municipality, Balibhadra Rana, mayor of the Tulsipur municipality, Chhetra Bahadur Basnet, and others felicitated the royal couple. Dances including the Chhokra dance, Bhume dance, Pharsa Pharwai dance and Jhumra dance were staged.

The couple listened to the people, who expressed their day-to-day problems. The couple have been inspecting areas in the region, including the Maoist strongholds, since their civic reception in Nepalgunj on February 8.

The King has also been granting audience to various political and social workers. Presenting a letter of felicitation to the monarch, the people of Pyuthan district highlighted the need to renovate the road linking Pyuthan district headquarters with the Mahendra Highway. They also urged the King to make the Swargadwari Campus self-reliant.

According to the Rastriya Samachar Samiti, thousands of local people, political and social workers and government officials welcomed the couple in the area.

The King, addressing the civic reception programme in the mid-western region, had expressed commitment to a multi-party democracy in the country.