Bhubaneswar: The spectacular beauty as seen from the world's highest hump is awe-inspiring enough to make an Everest climber forget his death-defying struggle, but reality bites an Everester when one calculates the dividends accrued from the feat. Though the physical toil is well paid for, the financial investment is not.

Mountaineers of the state have slammed the Odisha government's policy of offering "a pitifully small incentive" to those, who have scaled Everest and the peaks, which are more than 8,000 metres high.

So far, seven persons - Kalpana Dash (2008), Ganesh Jena (2011), Jogavyas Bhoi (2011), Devidutta Panda (2011), Pradeep Kumar Sahoo (2016), his wife Chetna Sahoo (2016) and Swarnalata Dalei (2018) - from Odisha have scaled Mount Everest. And all the Everesters have been given Rs 3 lakh cash award each, said sources in the sports and youth services department.

But, the climbers are neither happy with the amount, nor satisfied with the arbitrary way of handling the incentive.

Jogavyas Bhoi, the Everester from Narla in Kalahandi, said: "The government incentive is too inadequate. We have to spend more than Rs 25 lakh for an Everest expedition."

A schoolteacher, Bhoi said he had to sell his four-acre land to raise Rs 8 lakh, apart from arranging sponsorship from private industries, mostly from west Odisha, to meet the expense.

He said the government paid the cash reward only after the accomplishment.

"A mountain expedition involves a lot many risks. But, they are not paid anything in case of the death during expedition," said Bhoi, citing the case of Lalu Prasad Bhoi, a young climber who died during an expedition last year.

Another mountaineer also rued the arbitrary way of handling of government funds. "There is no committee, in which Everesters and mountaineering experts are involved. The bureaucrats always call the shots," he said.

In July 2014, the state government had come out with a scheme to promote adventure activities. Under the scheme, the government offers a cash award of Rs 3 lakh for scaling Everest and Rs 2 lakh for climbing each peak with a height of more than 8,000 metres, apart from the six continents' highest peaks. There are 13 mountain peaks across the world with the height of above 8,000 metres, other than the Everest. properly the