Tansen (Palpa), 10 April: The ongoing second Tansen Festival in Palpa has been disrupted due to storms and rainfall. The festival, which began on Chaitra 22 (early April), was organized with a focus on agriculture, employment, tourism, and trade in Tansen. However, since Wednesday afternoon, rain and strong winds have negatively impacted the event.
As preparations were underway on Wednesday afternoon, a sudden downpour accompanied by strong winds caused chaos at the festival. Both local and national-level artists, who had come to perform, were unable to showcase their talents. Thousands of attendees, including children and the elderly, ran for shelter as hail and rain lashed the venue.
Due to the rain, the cultural programs were postponed and the organizers planned to resume them the following day. However, the strong storm and rain on Wednesday night caused significant damage to the stage, stalls, entrance gates, and fencing structures at the festival site. This has cast uncertainty over the continuation of the festival. According to vendors, goods placed in various stalls were also blown away by the wind. Fortunately, the District Police Office reported that no human casualties occurred.
Bishnu Bahadur Karki, President of the Palpa Chamber of Commerce, stated that the damage at the festival site was severe, and they plan to reconstruct the structures before resuming the event. He added that the stages, stalls, and gates built for the festival were damaged and that work is ongoing to assess the full extent of the damage.
The festival is primarily organized by Tansen Municipality and the Palpa Chamber of Commerce, with support from the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Transport, the Ministry of Forest and Environment of Lumbini Province, the Domestic and Small Industries Office Palpa, and managed by Everest Event Management Pvt. Ltd., Bharatpur, Chitwan. Over 300 stalls were set up at the event.
Stalls include exhibitions related to agriculture, production, small and domestic industries, educational materials, banks and financial institutions, information technology, automobiles, health, tourism, local products, children’s playgrounds, hotels, and restaurants.
Highlights of the festival include, for the first time, a fish tunnel, industrial product and service exhibitions, programs encouraging small entrepreneurs and businesses, promotion and marketing of local agricultural products, preservation of local language, arts, culture, and religious values, and promotion of local technologies and product.
