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

The goal of the programme, which takes place in each of the seven provinces by turns, is to get the youth’s feedback to the newspaper’s content and to help it better cater to their needs.

During the event in Chitwan, youths representing various sections of the society including students, entrepreneurs and other professionals stressed on the need to present the huge prospects of Chitwan and the region, both before national and international audiences.

On Friday morning, they underscored the need for identifying the unique products of the region and spreading information about them internationally.

Young entrepreneur Bigyan Paudel said that there is a huge potential of hiking and trekking routes in the hill areas of Chitwan district. Development of Upardanggadhi, Mayatar and Siraichuli of Ichhyakamana Rural Municipality of the district as tourist destinations would add great value to Chitwan’s wildlife tourism, Paudel said.

Prasiddha Sharma, a third year MBBS student at the Chitwan Medical College, lamented that many people from Chitwan and neighbouring districts were visiting Kathmandu for treatments of heart and other ailments despite Bharatpur-based hospitals 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 urged the media to pay heed.

Praveen Ghimire, founder and chief executive officer of MEDIISHA, a provider of Hospital Information Management System, urged the media to let people know about some positive developments happening in the country. For instance, the government hospitals in Chitwan of late have significantly improved their services, he said.

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

Dr Ashish Khadka of MEDIISHA pointed out various sectors where lots of work needed to be done to develop Bharatpur as a medical hub.

Likewise, youth entrepreneur Suryabhakta Adhikari urged decision makers from various sectors to promote entrepreneurship in the country. Engineer and social activist Sagar Karki pointed out the need for drastic upgrade of highways, better waste management and well-regulated use of resources including sands and stones from rivers.

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

Similarly, Basanta Lama of Ratnanagar Municipality-9 emphasised that some pertinent issues related to Chitwan National Park needed to be urgently addressed. According to him, wildlife smuggling and the damages caused by forest fires have become increasingly more challenging.

Biswas Baral, editor of the Post, addressed their concerns and explained how the newspaper prioritises the news and issues it covers. “We regularly listen to people from various walks of life to understand the issues of the society and interactions of this type helps in that effort,” he said.