Everest summit claim true: Nepal govt
Delhi: An inquiry by the Nepal government has given a clean chit to two Pimpri-based mountaineers, Anand Bansode and Sagar Palkar of Sagarmatha Giryarohan Sanstha, who had claimed they summitted Mount Everest on May 19. The inquiry instituted following objections raised by Sherpas who accompany mountaineers on the Everest, reveals the duo had indeed reached the top of the world’s highest peak.
“We scrutinised photographs submitted by them, and took statements of the liaison officer of the Nepal government who was present at the base camp during the summit and sherpas who accompanied them during the expedition. We came to the conclusion that Anand Bansode and Sagar Palkar had summitted the peak as claimed,” said Tilak Pandey, spokesperson of the Nepal Ministry of Tourism, one of the members of the inquiry committee.
The committee headed by Nepal’s Under Secretary (Law) Matrika Marashini was set up after about 60 Sherpas from several agencies on May 27 gave in writing their objections to the claim of the duo to the Nepal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Everest Summiteers Association.
The team from the Pimpri-based Sagarmatha Sanstha had applied for summit certificates (issued by the Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism) for Bansode, Palkar and another member of the team, Shrihari Tapkir. Objecting to Bansode and Palkar’s application, Pemba Rinhzing Sherpa and other sherpas had demanded a technical investigation of the photos submitted by them.
On March 23, a five-member team comprising Tapkir, Bansode, Palkar, Ramesh Gulve, Kushal Deshmukh and Balaji Mane, had begun their Everest expedition. Gulve died following a stroke on April 28. The Sanstha claimed that Tapkir, Bansode, Palkar and Mane summitted on May 19. In the first week of June, it clarified Mane had not summitted the peak.- Indian Express
