Kathmandu February 3.

A famous tourist destination aside, Rampur in Palpa district is proving to be an agricultural zone. Rampur municipality-6 is ahead of the total 10 wards in the production of agricultural produce. Farmers in the village have cultivated banana farming on approximately 40 ropani ( one ropani is equivalent to 5476 square feet). Likewise, 68 farmers and 10 groups of farmers have together grown potato farming and 27 farmers beekeeping. The municipality has a plan to develop Rampur as a pocket area for potato farming as the soil there is fertile for potato production, said the ward chair Humnath Neupane, adding that farmers of the village have been encouraged upon getting grants for farming. The ward has announced 50 percent financial assistance for the ‘one ward one tap’ campaign and has a plan to declare the village thatched roof house- free area, he said. The ward has Talpokhara enlisted by the government as top 100 tourist destinations and a plan is afoot to establish a zoo in Jyagdi community forest area at Phyaklu, said the ward chair Neupane. It also provides Rs 2,000 (as transportation allowance ) each to those patients suffering from complex disease, like heart and kidney problems and cancer below the poverty line to reach Rampur Hospital, and Rs 5,000 to get to other areas, he added. It has been providing educational and sports materials for free to students and has recently organised a training session on knitting in a bid to economically empower parents. Sundar Prasad Devkota, a school principal, praised the ward for carrying out development activities and providing educational materials to the students which have been helpful in the enhancement of their learning skills.