Several airlines have been carrying pilgrims to Phungling Bazaar, the district headquarters of Taplejung, for the past three months. The helicopters are carrying pilgrims from Dharan, Ilam and Kathmandu to worship at the famous Pathibhara temple.
There have been 70 flights from Bhedetar of Dhara since Dashainyata. According to Pawin Shrestha, market manager of a Travel and Tour company, 450 devotees from Bhedetar reached Pathibhara temple in Taplejung and offered prayers. Chiten Limbu, a local of Taplejung, said that the people of Phungling Bazaar are developing the habit of getting up at the sound of helicopters in the morning.
Manmani Kafle, executive director of the Pavibhara Area Development Committee, said that the pilgrims came to the Pathibhara temple from Bhedetar in the district headquarters Phungling, Panchthar, Dharan and Dhankuta. Shrestha, the market manager of a Travel and Tour company, said that passengers fly from Dharan for Rs. 32,000. According to Dharan Holiday Travel and Tour, the number of passengers traveling by helicopter to Pathibhara this year was significant but the weather was not conducive. Helicopters carrying five passengers at a time earn Rs. 160,000 per flight from Dharan.
According to Suresh Limbu, manager of a resort, they charge Rs. 10,000 from Phungling, the district headquarters of Taplejung, Rs. 22,000 from Phidim of Panchthar and Rs. 35,000 from Kanyam of Ilam. The number of passengers coming directly from Kathmandu is also significant, said Dilli Acharya, a priest from Pathibhara. However, the Area Development Committee has stated that it has not kept statistics on the number of pilgrims arriving by helicopter. "We keep track of the number of people walking, not the number of helicopters," Kafle said.
According to the committee, more than 55,000 people have visited Pathibhara from September 7 to November 30. The committee has statistics that 17,000 people visited on a single day in Chaitra, two years ago.
There is a bank balance of Rs. 80 million donated by pilgrims in Pathibhara. The Pathibhara Area Development Committee (a committee formed by the government) has a bank balance of Rs. 32.7 million. The Pathibhara Devi Temple Area Conservation and Promotion Committee (a committee formed at the community level) has a budget of Rs. 33.33 million. The Area Development Committee has stated that a total of Rs. 80 million has been deposited in the bank accounts of both the government and community level committees.
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