Bihar: After Saharanpur, Sitamarhi village gets a Himalayan peek

PATNA: A village in Sitamarhi district bordering Nepal woke up to a majestic sight on Monday morning — snow-capped Himalayan peaks. Old-timers say the mountain range was last seen from here in the eighties.
A photograph of the Himalayan range, as visible from Singhwahini village in Sonbarsa block, went viral after Ritu Jaiswal, the mukhiya of the Gram Panchayat, posted it on Twitter.
According to her, the Himalayan range from her village is around 190km in terms of aerial distance and was last seen in the 1980s from Singhwahini, which is the ancestral village of her husband Arun Kumar, who is an IAS officer.
“Today we can see Mt Everest from the rooftop of my house at Singhawahini village in Sitamarhi district. Nature is balancing itself. The hills near Nepal border are often visible after rain but this is the first time that the real Himalayas are visible from here.” Ritu posted this caption along with the photo.
Her photo was re-posted by Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan with his own caption: “When people of Singhwahini village, Bihar saw Everest from their own houses. They say this happened after decades,” attributing the photo to the gram Pradhan, who is in her early forties.
Talking to this newspaper, Ritu said, “I think it’s Mount Everest. It was a mesmerizing view not just for me but for the entire village. I even confirmed it with several elderly people who have been living here all their lives and had seen the Everest only in the early 1980s. After that the view slowly disappeared and was never visible again due to higher pollution levels.”
Although many Twitter users raised questions about the veracity of the claim that Mt Everest was visible from the Sitamarhi village, the fact that the Himalayan range is visible because of lower pollution levels can be seen from the.
“Due to the lockdown, air pollution levels have come down drastically making the skies clearer skies in the region, which in turn is making the distant Himalayan peaks visible from the village,” Ritu said, adding, “The snowy peaks were clearly visible from the rooftops and we are hoping to see them again as soon as the clouds clear out.”
Environment experts said reduction in level of air pollutants and harmful gas emissions has led to a steep drop in the air quality index (AQI) across the state, improving the overall visibility.
The AQI level at Muzaffarpur, which is adjacent to Sitamarhi, was 54 on Tuesday. The AQI levels across the state were in the range of 350-400 on most days during the winters.
Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) chairman Ashok Kumar Ghosh said, “The dip in pollution level is not just a result of a day or two of lockdown. It began during the last week of phase one of lockdown and reached its peak in the second phase. The constant betterment in the atmospheric conditions has led to this major change of AQI oscillating somewhere between good and satisfactory. The AQI levels may improve even more in the coming days.”
Dipak Kumar Singh, principal secretary of environment, forest and climate change department said, “Lockdown owing to the Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant changes in the pollution levels in the state. Himalayan peaks, which were already visible from VTR on clearer days, can be seen to a greater extent now.”
Talking about the Himalayas being visible from Singhwahini village, Singh added, “As the pollution level has reduced these days, it is possible to witness Himalayan peaks from the village in Sitamarhi as it is located near the Nepal border.”