Young entrepreneurs stress that they need to understand Chitwan better

Coffee with The Kathmandu Post, an initiative of this newspaper to collect young voices from across the country, this time came together at Bharatpur, Chitwan in Bagmati Province.

The aim of the programme, which takes place in each of the seven provinces in turn, is to get feedback from young people on the newspaper’s content and help it better respond to their needs.

During the Chitwan event, youths representing various sections of the society, including students, entrepreneurs and other professionals, emphasized the need to showcase the huge prospects of Chitwan and the region to both national and international audiences.

On Friday morning, they emphasized the need to identify the unique products of the region and spread information about them internationally.

Young entrepreneur Bigyan Paudel said there is immense potential for trekking and hiking trails in the hilly areas of Chitwan district. Developing Upardanggadhi, Mayatar and Siraichuli of Ichhyakamana Rural Municipality in the district as tourist destinations would add great value to wildlife tourism in Chitwan, Paudel said.

Prasiddha Sharma, a third-year MBBS student at Chitwan Medical College, lamented that many people from Chitwan and neighboring districts visit Kathmandu for heart and other ailments despite hospitals in Bharatpur providing the same services. “In the absence of better publicity, people are not well informed about the health services they can get here in the district,” he said. He asked the media to pay attention.

Praveen Ghimire, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MEDIISHA, a Hospital Information Management System provider, urged the media to inform people about some positive developments taking place in the country. For example, government hospitals in Chitwan have significantly improved their services of late, he said.

According to him, colleges in the district were providing theoretical knowledge even to students studying Information Technology. He suggested giving priority to practice-based IT education.

Dr. Ashish Khadka of MEDIISHA highlighted various sectors where a lot of work needs to be done to develop Bharatpur as a medical hub.

Youth entrepreneur Suryabhakta Adhikari also urged policy makers from various sectors to promote entrepreneurship in the country. Engineer and social activist Sagar Karki stressed the need for drastic modernization of highways, better waste management and well-regulated use of resources, including river sand and stones.

Madi JCI President Santosh Bhattarai was of the opinion that the media should do more coverage on the concept of business incubation introduced by the federal government.

Similarly, Basanta Lama of Ratnanagar Municipality-9 pointed out that some pertinent issues related to Chitwan National Park need to be addressed urgently. According to him, wildlife smuggling and forest fire damage have become increasingly difficult.

Biswas Baral, editor of the Post, addressed their concerns and explained how the newspaper prioritizes the news and issues it covers. “We regularly listen to people from various walks of life to understand societal issues and interactions like this help in that endeavour,” he said.