May 16 , 2014

The second day of six-day hunger strike organized by Joint Tourism Coordination Committee (JTCC) in the premises of Nepal Tourism Boar (NTB) saw huge turnout of tourism entrepreneurs.

Around 400 tourism entrepreneurs signed the visitor's book kept at the relay hunger strike site on Friday, expressing their solidarity to the ongoing protest. Former tourism minister and UCPN (Maoist) leader Hisila Yami, Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) President Suresh Basnet, and FNCCI executive member Umesh Lal Shrestha also showed solidarity to the ongoing protest.

Speaking on the occasion, Yami compared the ongoing protest to people's movement of 2006. "The protest is drawing attention of tourism entrepreneurs, experts and stakeholders from across the country," Yami said, adding that she is ready to extend all possible support to JTCC to take the protest to a logical conclusion.

During her time at the office of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), Yami had announced different programs like Nepal Tourism Year 2011 and Tourism Vision 2020. She also introduced Home Stay Regulations to encourage more people in rural areas to start home stay facilities.

The board of NTB had taken action against Subash Nirola by transferring him to Pokhara office when Yami was at the helm of tourism ministry. But instead of going to Pokhara, Nirola got his leave sanctioned and left for US.

On the occasion, Gautam Prasad Sakpota, who is popular known as 'Birdman of Nepal', entertained the crowd by mimicking sound of different birds.

List of entrepreneurs who participated in the relay hunger strike on Friday morning:

1. Narayan Gurung - NATTA
   
2. Achyut Guragain - NEAT
   
3. Gopal Babu Shrestha -- TAAN
   
4. Dr Hari Shrestha -- NMA
   
5. Dhan Bahadur Gurung -- GTEAN
   
6. Chandra Tamang -- NMA
   
7. Lakpa Tamang - NMA
   
8. Ram Prasad Luitel - NMA
   
9. Palsang Tamang - TAAN
   
10. Bijaya Lama -- NCA
    
11. Krishna Aryal -- EOAN
    
12. Shankar Adhikari -- NARA
    
13. Govinda Panta -- NTEF
    
14. Sanotsh Adhikari – UCPN (Maoist) Tourism Sector
    
15. Harka Kadayat – Far-Western Tourism Committee
    
16. Tek Gurung -- GHTDC
    
17. Hari Timalsina – NEAT
    
18. Ishwor Chhetri -- AKTON
    
19. Ram Kumar Puri -- HAN
    
20. Ishwor Sharma -- TBA
    
21. Shiva Lamichhane -- VITOF
    
22. Krishna Pandey – UCPN (Maoist) Tourism Sector
    
23. Rajendra Sapkota – CPN-UML Tourism Sector
    
24. Rajan Kapri – CPN-UML Tourism Sector
    
25. Raghu Poudel -- TAAN
    

List of entrepreneurs who participated in hunger strike on Friday evening:

1. Thakur Raj Pandey – NMA
2. Lakpa Sherpa -- NMIA
3. BB Thapa – UCPN (Maoist) Tourism Sector
4. Ang Pemba Sherpa -- TAAN
5. Kul Bahadur Gurung – GTEAN
6. Ram Barakoti – UCPN (Maoist) Tourism Sector
7. Krishna Dhakal – AKTON
8. Devi Pande – NTEF
9. Ghanendra Shrestha – HAN
10. Sushil – TBA
11. Ang Pemba Sherpa – TAAN
12. Bodh Raj Bhandari – SOTTO Nepal
13. Pramesh Singh – AKTON
14. Sher Bahadur Pariyar – VITOF
15. Nakul Devkota – NEAT
16. Sagar Pandey – TAAN
17. Gokul Sapkota – TAAN
18. Ganga Prasad Nepal – NARA
19. Cheban Devkota – NTEF
20. Suresh Amgai – UCPN (Maoist) Tourism Sector
21. Sudhir Upadhyaya – NATTA
22. Lila Nath Chongbang – NCA
23. Chitra Gurung – VITOF
24. Kuldash Tamang
25. Bal Bahadur Samari- NEAT
26. Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa – TAAN
27. Jhagade Magar – EOAN
28. Suman Mahara - NEAT