Nima Nuru Sherpa elected new president of NMA

Nima Nuru Sherpa has been elected the new president of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) by the election held on Friday.

Sherpa won the election with 613 votes against his rival candidate Rajendra Man Shrestha. Sherpa received 735 votes while Shrestha received 122 votes. Out of 1205 voters, 905 cast their votes, according to NMA.

According to the election results, Thakur Raj Pandey has been elected as senior vice-president, Ang Dawa Sherpa as first vice-president, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa as second vice-president, Mohan Lamsal as general secretary, Dhana Bahadur Gurung as secretary and MuktiPandey as treasurer.

Similalrly, Aang Dawa Sherpa, Kisaan Gurung, Singi Lama, Pitambar Gurung, Rajendra Bahadur Lama, Ram Chandra Dhamala, Namgyal Jungbu Sherpa, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Dinesh Tamang, Nima Doma Sherpa and Doma Sherpa have all been elected as executive committee members of the association.

“I am committed to work for the betterment of the tourism and mountaineering industry while this victory has also had a significant meaning,” newly elected NMA president Sherpa. He added that this was the first time in the history of NMA that all political parties come together to field a common panel.

NMA is the national mountaineering association of Nepal. The NMA was founded in 1973 with the goals of promoting mountaineering activities in the Himalaya, providing safety awareness and mountaineering skills to Nepalese mountaineers and creating awareness of the beauty of the Himalayas both nationally and in international communities. The NMA is an active member of the UIAA.

NMA was also responsible for administering climbing permits for 27 mountains with altitudes between 5,800 metres and 6,600 metres categorised as trekking peaks, while permits for all other mountains open for climbing in Nepal (approximately 300 peaks) are issued by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA). In October 2015 the Government of Nepal announced that responsibility for the trekking peaks would be transferred from NMA to MoTCA.