Nepal government may partially lift restrictions on disabled from climbing Mt Everest

Nepal’s Tourism Minister Jitendra Narayan Dev has hinted that the government may lift the rules that make it difficult for the disabled to clim Mount Everest.

Dev said this to a delegation of organisations that included the National Federation of Disabled Nepal, Independent Living and Blind Rocks. It also included double amputee Hari Budha Magar who lost his legs in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2010 and was training for several months to scale Mt Everest. Magar was forced to postpone his plan of climbing Everest after the government’s ban.

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The minister asked these organisations to submit a joint memorandum based on which changes can be made.

On December 28 2017, Nepal passed an amendment banning the double amputees, people without arms and legs, and the blind from attempting to climb the world’s tallest peak. The decision drew strong criticism from many groups.

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