As breathtaking photos of the area became viral on social media, Manahukot (Manungkot) in Byas Municipality-5 of Tanahun began drawing huge crowds posing high risk of coronavirus transmission. Keeping the pandemic in mind, a meeting of the ward members have decided to allow only 300 tourists a day for sightseeing today onwards.

The executive meeting chaired by Byas Municipality Mayor Baikuntha Neupane decided to allow only a limited number of tourists to Manungkot from Tuesday since a large number of domestic tourists started flocking to the hill located in the western top of Damauli bazaar.

The recently turned popular tourist destination used to witness only 200-300 visitors during peak tourist season. However, the place has recently been receiving thousands of tourists a day with more than 10,000 tourists visiting the place this Saturday alone.

Visitors, mostly from neighbouring districts including Kaski, Syangja, Lamjung, Gorkha and Chitwan, have been arriving in the area to witness the Himalayan range during sunrise and sunset.

The executive meeting also decided that visitors will now have to register their names during entry for easy contact tracing and are bound to follow proper health safety protocols.

The meeting has issued a directive to the municipality’s ward no. 5 office to manage permissions for the entry of domestic tourists.

Meanwhile, the meeting also decided to allocate a sum of Rs 3 million for the construction of toilets among other physical infrastructures in the area.