DHANGADI, DECEMBER 27

Tej Prakash Tiwari of Dhangadi sub-metropolis had returned home from Malaysia after the coronavirus spread across the world. Following the pandemic, Tiwari did not return to Malaysia for employment, but started goat farming.

Similarly, Padam Bahadur Singh of the same sub-metropolis had also returned home from India after he left his job there. He started poultry farming and earned Rs 45,000 within 40 days. Singh committed not to return to his job, but to start a small business in the country.

Tiwari and Singh are representative characters.

As many as 150 locals at Dhangadi sub-metropolis in wards 1, 14 and 15 have started new business in the midst of the pandemic. The sub-metropolis provided a platform to enable these returnees to become self-employed after it started a social economic recovery project.

The sub-metropolis motivated the returnees to engage in goat keeping, poultry farming, vegetable farming, mushroom farming, and hotel entrepreneurship, among other professions.

Sub-metropolis Mayor Nripa Bahadur Odd said it was very difficult to convince people and instil the business sense in them. “We asked them to start their own business after providing training,” he said.

Odd said the social economic recovery project was started with support from the sub-metropolis and UNDP.

Bisna Thapa of the sub-metropolis said she had started vegetable farming with the idea of never leaving the country for a job abroad. “I have started organic vegetable farming as there is the possibility of earning as much as I had earned abroad,” she said.