Competition between locals and outsiders to harvest a prized caterpillar fungus called yarsagumba claimed another life this week in remote Dolpa district.
A local man was killed and ten others injured after police opened fire on a crowd and beat victims at Dho-Tarap VDC in Upper Dolpa last Tuesday. CDO Krishna Prasad Khanal admitted that police had fired in the air, but told Nepali Times: "There was a dispute over royalty collection at the buffer zone, and the fatality was not due to police firing, the person died at home."
There was a territorial dispute between two groups of people harvesting yarsagumba, which is worth its weight in gold across the border in China where it is regarded as having aphrodisiac properties.
In 2009, seven people from lower down the Marsyangdi Valley were killed by locals in Manang after a dispute over yarsagumba harvests.
The dead person in Dho-Tarap has been identified as Phurwa Tsering, and a local report said he succumbed to injuries after being brutally beaten by police. Four of those critically injured were said to have been helicoptered out. Nyima Tsering of Do-Takyu injured his eye and another unidentified person of Chharka village is in critical condition after being caught and beaten by police, locals said.
Khanal, however, said that three policemen were also injured, and said the police had to fire in the air to control the crowd. He said the wounded were lightly injured and were receiving treatment.
The police is said to have intervened after locals protested against pressure exerted by the local authorities to allow people from outside to harvest the yarsagumba in a protected area called Lang.
Dolpa’s District Development Committee (DDC) in Dunai charged yarsagumba pickers Rs 5,000 to enter Lang.
Every summer, entire populations of the mid hills of western Nepal climb to altitudes as high as 5,000 metres to pick yarsagumba (pic,below). Schools are closed, and the yarsa season resembles a gold rush.
Local reports said Sey Namkha Dorje, chairperson of Dolpo Concern Center, and Dolpo Amchi, chairperson of Himalayan Amchi Association, have left for Dho-Tarap to investigate the incident.
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