The Nepal government on Monday also extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown till April 15.
Representational image (Photo: IStock)
Nepal government on Friday rejected calls to use the pandemic lockdown of Mount Everest to stage a cleanup of the world’s highest mountain.
Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and human excrement litter the well-trodden route to the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) high summit.
Last month, authorities had suspended permits for all mountain expeditions over the coronavirus outbreak, forcing the Nepal army to cancel an ambitious clean-up on six mountains including Everest.
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“It is not possible this season,” Danduraj Ghimire, chief of Nepal’s tourism department told AFP.
Santa Bir Lama, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said, “The government should let a Nepali team just clean the mountain. Apart from clearing trash, it would give employment to Sherpas who have lost this season’s income,”
Nepal levies a $4,000 rubbish deposit for each team to be refunded if each climber brings back eight kilos (18 pounds) of waste, but only half return with trash.
Last year’s spring climbing window, which normally starts in April, saw a record 885 people summit Everest.
Earlier this week, Nepal extended the suspension of international flights till April 30 to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and also decided to renew visas of tourists stranded amidst the lockdown in the country free of cost.
However, the government is undecided over whether to resume the domestic flights.
The Nepal government on Monday also extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown till April 15.
Nepal, which shares an 1,800-km open border with India, has total 37 motorable land entry points with it, while with China it has four such entry points.
Last month, Nepal had just one confirmed case of coronavirus, but Basu Dev Pandey director of the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease hospital in Kathmandu, warned the country was at risk due its location between China and India.
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