Umesh Nepali

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli flew to his ancestral home at Iwa at Aathrai-4 in Terhathum district on Sunday, to observe his 69th birthday.

Accompanied by his spouse Radhika Shakya and his father Mohan Prasad Oli, the PM was revisiting his ancestral place nearly after 7 years. Oli’s two-storey ancestral house is situated at then Iwa VDC’s Salle in Terhathum. It now lies at Aathrai Rural Municipality-4 in the wake of federal set up.

A low-key celebration of the PM’s birthday turned to be a special ceremony marked by hives of activities at his ancestral village.

One among was donation of clothes and stationery materials to the senior citizens and students respectively. PM Oli and his family donated clothes to altogether 400 senior citizens and stationeries to around 2,000 students.

Oli also laid a foundation stone for the construction of 65-km road that connects Salle in Terhathum to Dhunge Saghu in Taplejung district. The road, on other words, connects PM’s ancestral home to communist leader Madan Bhandari’s ancestral home at Dhunge Saghu.

He also inaugurated the 177th branch of the Nepal Bank at Sankranti Bazar on the occasion.

Stating that the government was aggressively moving ahead for expediting development works, Oli addressed the attendees in the birthday ceremony and expressed his happiness for being able to revisit his ancestral home for his birthday celebration.

According to him, preparations were in the final phase to operate an agriculture research centre in his land here. PM Oli had repurchased his ancestral house some five years ago that was sold to a local family after his family migrated to Jhapa district 1967. The house and its premises measure 30 ropani.

PM Oli also pledged to donate some of his land for the Centre which aims to produce skilled human resources in the sector of agriculture and aims to advance the cause of commercialization of agriculture.

Oli said, "I have donated some land for the Agriculture Centre that would be set up in the terrace land of my house."

Informing that the government was spearheading the agriculture movement to modernize agriculture in the country, he urged his locals for commercial farming of the unseasonal vegetables and fruits for their exports.

According to him, the soil in his village was favorable for the production of chayote squash.

The Head of the Government revisited his childhood memories while bantering with his childhood friends, sitting at his ancestral house. The house made up of stone, wood, mud and locally available materials would soon be converted into a museum.

Furthermore, the PM jubilantly took pictures with the locals and well-wishers crowding his ancestral home to be part of the celebration.

Sitting in the courtyard, he cut a birthday cake and offered it to his spouse and father as well as the villagers.