Myagdi, 23 Ashoj(Oct 9): Sudeep Neupane of Tanahun, who returned from a visit to Upallo Mustang, took a bath for two hours in the Bhurung-hot water pond in Annapurna rural municipality-2 of Myagdi on Tuesday.
“The coldness and tiredness of the Mustang journey was eliminated after taking a bath in hot water”, he said. Bhurung Tatopani Kund has become a ‘refresh center’ for tourists like him who travel to and from Mustang via the Beni-Jomsom road and travel on the Annapurna cycle path. Bathing by immersing the body in hot water is said to increase physical freshness, eliminate fatigue, heal injuries, swelling, and gravel problems. Those who come from the cold climate of Mustang feel warm by bathing in the hot water. With the beginning of the tourist season, there has been an increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists coming to bathe in the ponds and streams where the 55 degree Celsius hot water is collected naturally on the banks of the Kali Gandaki river.
Latte Giri, the owner of the pool, said that the cold has started to increase, along with the number of tourists coming to visit Yam and Mustang, the number of people coming to bathe in the hot water pool has also increased. “After the rains stopped, along with the activity of tourists coming to Mustang, hot water bathing has also increased”, he said. Two hot water collecting ponds and streams have been built near the Beni-Jomsom road. You can bathe in streams and ponds where appropriate. Bathing can be done from 6 am to 8 pm. A fee of Rs 50 for natives and Rs 150 for foreigners has been fixed for bathing in the pool.
The rural municipality has entered into a contract with Hotel Hotspiring for the current financial year 2081-82 for Rs. In the financial year 2080-81, the contract was made for Rs 55 lakh nine hundred. Near Bhurung-Tatopani Kund, there is another Tatopani Kund in the geography of Annapurna Rural Municipality-5 across the Kaligandaki river. For the operation of Tatopani Kund, the rural municipality has entered into a contract with Kaligand’s Rooftop Pvt. A suspension bridge has recently been constructed by the Gandaki state government over the Kaligandaki river connecting Bhurung-Tatopani to Paudhar Tatopani.
Chief Administrative Officer of Annapurna Rural Municipality, Ram Prasad Sharma, said that they got a 10 percent discount because they collected the agreed amount. In addition to the plans and programs decided by the village council, the income from the pool has been mobilized for Sarvodaya Mavi located in Tatopani, salary of teachers of Himalaya Basic School from private resources, laboratory operation at the health post, infrastructure construction and protection of the pool.
Class 11 and 12 have been conducted with the income from the pool, said Ward President Omprakash Fagami. Himalaya Basic School has also been supported. With the help of Kund, the laboratory has been operated by managing the salary of one professional at the Tatopani health post. Conservation work is also being done to control the erosion of Kaligandaki river. About 20 well-equipped hotels are operating in Tatopani Bazar for tourist accommodation. The hotel has the capacity to accommodate more than 500 guests in a day.
Earlier, the Beni-Jomsom-Korla road, which was opened from the corner of the pool, was extended by making it 11 meters wider, so the source and pond of the pool would be buried, so the local residents, people’s representatives and stakeholders demanded to change the mapping. A new mapping of the road has been done from the bottom of the tank so that the springs and ponds of Tatopani are not affected and the erosion of the Kaligandaki river is also controlled.
