The Kathmandu Post senior editorial team held an interaction in Butwal on Friday in its first readership outreach in Province 5 after the three-tiers of elections conducted last year.

In ‘Coffee with The Kathmandu Post’ people from various walks of life interacted with Editor in Chief Akhilesh Upadhyay, Assistant General Manager Mahesh Swar and District Bureau Coordinator Lekhnath Pant. In a Question and Answer session with the editorial team, locals raised a number of their concerns and expectations.

The participants in the interaction said the Province 5 holds enormous potential for tourism development because it is the birthplace of Lord Buddha and it also has major wildlife sanctuaries such as Bardiya National Park and Banke National Park. The province has a

number of historically important places and other tourist destinations.

“The media should play its role to promote tourism in Lumbini and develop good environment to invest on tourism sector,”said a tourism entrepreneur who is constricting a five star hotel in Lumbini. He even complained that some monasteries on the premises of Lumbini accommodated visiting tourists breaching existing rules and regulations. As a result, entrepreneurs are discouraged to invest on hotels and on the other hand, government fails to collect tax, added the young businessperson.

Young entrepreneur Jaya Agrawal asked media to raise issues of corruption and irregularities that stymied development activities in Butwal/Bhairahawa and in entire Province 5.

“There is corruption in construction of infrastructures, especially roads and bridges. Media should exert pressure on government and other authorities concerned to take initiatives in controlling corruption,” said Agrawal.

The tourism entrepreneurs present in the interaction said all should work together to promote tourism in Lumbini and make conducive environment for investment. Businesspersons demand steady supply of electricity and suitable environment for business activities. They complained shortage of human resources as Nepali workers leave their homes for foreign soils and even Kathmandu for jobs, said a businessman.

Sarita Shrees, a young entrepreneur and party activist, underscored the need of raising women issues. She questioned the responsibility of some media of publishing name and photo of the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault to double their suffering.

She also suggested publishing successes stories of small entrepreneurs and traders to encourage youth and develop culture to respect labour.

Pankaj Rai of Butwal emphasised on the need of investigative journalism to control corruption. He asked media to be watchdog of government authorities to maintain good governance.

The Post editorial team on Thursday visited Lumbini where Lumbini Development Trust officials explained to them the archaeological importance of the area and Tilaurakot where Buddha spent his first 29 years.