Bhaktapur district has been declared the first ever Yoga district in the country amid a programme here on Monday.

Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Shankar Bhandari made the declaration in a programme organized by the Yoga District Coordination Committee, Bhaktapur. 

The declaration bears the fact that more than 51 per cent of the total population, aged between 10-70 years of age, in the district were recorded to have been practicing yoga on a regular basis, according to Coordination Committee Chairperson Bal Mukunda Suwal. 

The population with this age group stands at 250,439 in this smallest district in the country. 

Furthermore, each ward of the six municipalities in the district has yoga and meditation centre which is another parameter for the declaration. There are altogether 157 such centres in the district, being run in coordination with various yoga and meditation centres such as Brahma Kumari Rajyog Centre, Manokranti Yog Centre and Osho Meditation Centre, Bhaktapur among others. 

The declaration programme was attended by former Minister for Industry Mahesh Basnet, former Assistant Minister Hari Shankar Pariyar, parliamentarians as well the chiefs of various local government bodies. RSS