Pokhara, January 8

Pokhara Tourism Council has clarified that it didn’t seek to ban Indian vehicles from entering Pokhara.

“We’d intended to stop Indian vehicles from gaining access to tourist destinations, not from entering Pokhara altogether, looking to ease traffic congestion, minimise possible accidents and extend the stay of the tourists here, but we were misinterpreted and misrepresented,” said the council Chairperson Chiranjivi Pokharel, speaking at an interaction here today.

The council on December 22 had written to District Administration Office, Kaski, urging its help to prevent Indian vehicles from gaining access to tourist destinations. Acting on the letter, the administration had then written to the district police office and district traffic police office, seeking their help to implement the ban.

“We had some good intentions in preventing the vehicles from gaining access to tourist destinations, but as some domestic and international media misrepresented us and splashed news saying Indian vehicles were banned in Pokhara, the same sent a wrong message and hurt the entire tourism industry, which is unfortunate,” he lamented, adding that the provision was in fact meant for security and ease of the visitors themselves.

Speaking on the occasion, Western Regional Hotel Association Pokhara adviser and hotelier Bachchuram Tiwari accused Indian tour operators of taking their visitors only to a few selected sites in Pokhara, which had 33 tourist sites.