Marim and Cato border closed for 4 years

Dolpa's She-Foksundo Rural Municipality Cato and Dolpobuddha Rural Municipality are connected with Marim Naka. Charkatangsong Rural Municipality of Upper Dolpa is also dependent on China. "Before Corona, locals used to go to the Chinese market Taklakot for jobs. It takes us at least 5 days to reach the capital, and we reach the border of China in one day, so we depend on China for food and daily consumables," said Senang Gurung, Chairman of Charkatangsong Rural Municipality, "After the border was closed due to Corona, another It has been 4 years since the year was opened, and the poverty of the locals is increasing after it has not yet been opened.'

Due to extreme cold and lack of irrigation facilities, only one crop lice grows in the entire municipality. The main occupation of the locals here is herb collection and animal husbandry. However, China is also the place where herbs such as Yarchagumba, Guchichau, Katuki and animals such as sheep and goats are sold, Gurung said. "Herbs and lambs are sold at twice the price of Nepalese market," he said, "Yarchagumba reached up to 28 lakhs per kg before the Corona epidemic, and one sheep-salmon is sold for more than 30/35 thousand in the Nepali market last year." Yarchagumba was sold at Rs 23 lakh per kg, while lamb-changra does not fetch more than Rs 20,000 in the local market.

According to the chairman of She-Foksundo Rural Municipality, Torasunduk Gurung, Chinese food and consumables are twice as cheap as those in the capital Dunai, so the locals used to depend on the goods there. "One thing is expensive in Sadarmukam, and above the other, because there are no road facilities, you have to pay twice as much as the goods if you have to transport goods by horse and cart," he said.

According to Larkel Lama, a resident of She-Foksundo Rural Municipality-4, the price of 50 kg of coarse rice delivered by the businessman to Saldang, the center of the municipality, costs at least 5 thousand 500 rupees. Whereas, the same rice can be found in Dunai, the capital, for up to 2,000 rupees. Similarly, salt available at 20 rupees in the headquarters is more than 60 rupees here.

Before the Corona epidemic, the Chinese side used to hold a hot market for 15 days every year at the Marim border. According to Sonam Tamang of Dolpobuddha-3, the local people used to sell local products including herbs and buy food and daily consumables with the proceeds. "Before the Corona epidemic, they used to earn a living from the food they bought in the Chinese market," he said. The cost of paying the rent is high, the lice that grow once a year does not last for more than 3 months, so there is a supply of food outside the local market. is.

According to him, if the border had been opened, a sack of rice would have been available at the Chinese border for a maximum of 1500. Even though there is a food supply and trading company and a salt trading depot in the village, there is never rice and salt. According to him, trade in agricultural products such as carpets, bamboo, leather, various handicrafts, honey, ghee, chili peppers, etc. was easy in the Chinese market. "We could sell the goods in 1/2 day and we used to work for 3 months," he said. "When we returned from there, we would bring enough food and clothes for the whole year." "After the closure of the canal, most of the residents have a problem in earning a living," he said, "since the canal is not opened, the youth have not been able to go to the Chinese market for employment, due to which hundreds of youth have become unemployed, the trade of herbs has come to a standstill." told "The tourism business is also quadrupled," he said, "the number of tourists coming to Dolpa via China has been almost zero for the last 4 years." He earned up to one lakh rupees a month as a laborer there. "Now it is difficult to support the family," he said, "we have to earn a living by taking loans." According to him, after China closed the border, nearly 5 thousand people in the border area of ​​Dolpa lost their jobs.

Dolpa Chief District Officer Tulsi Prasad Dahal said that correspondence has been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs several times through the Ministry of Home Affairs to open the border crossing. "It's been almost 5 months since I arrived, necessary correspondence and initiatives have been taking place since my arrival," he said.