Nepal is going to celebrate the 2560 Buddha Jayanti on May 21 in the capital as well as in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.

The two-day international conference on Buddhism will send a positive message to the world, and it will also help Nepal revive her tourism business shattered by the last year’s devastating earthquakes and five-month long border blockade that has bled the national economy white and dry.

The government must be able to use this international conference to attract a large number of tourists from all over the world giving a message that Nepal is safe for travel and tourismrelated industries are capable of providing quality services to the visitors.

The government and the tourism sector must pay special attention towards publicity of Lumbini and its surrounding areas such as Tilaurakot, Ramgram, Devdaha, Niglihawa and Sagrahawa which are all connected with Buddha and Buddhism.

The Nepal Tourism Board should launch worldwide campaign to attract more and more Buddhist tourists from Buddhist nations and tell the world community that Lumbini will be more accessible once the Regional International Airport comes into operation in Bhairahawa within 2017.

The airport will cater services to the Buddhist pilgrims who need not have to detour from Kathmandu to the sacred place. Additional infrastructure, such as widening the road to Lumbini, from the regional international airport should also be developed without further delay.

Lumbini alone can attract millions of tourists if necessary infrastructures are built to the international standard.

Pratik Shrestha, Kathmandu

No increment

There’s a rumour about the possibility of increasing salary of government employees in the upcoming fiscal budget, if the media reports are anything to go by.

To see the result, we have to wait till the announcement of the fiscal budget of the year 2016/17. A large amount of budget has to be kept aside for the post-quake reconstruction process and relief works since it is the priority of the country.

If the government decides to increase the salary of its employees it will have a pervasive impact on the national economy, particularly the price of daily commodities in the market, and it will also add to inflation which is currently at around 9.5 percent.

Once the salary is increased the government will also have to contribute to the pensioners that will add more financial burden to the already squeezed national exchequer.

The government must focus its attention on building infrastructure rather than appeasing the lazy government employees.

The more investment made on physical development the more job opportunity it will create within the country.

Sanjog Karki, Tansen