Surkhet, October 13 Tihar is just around the corner but locals of Shreenagar in Humla are deprived of rice despite adequate stock at Nepal Food Corporation Shreenagar Depot. Locals in the vicinity are forced to return empty-handed after Chief Khemraj Kafle at Nepal Food Corporation Shreenagar depot went on home leave.Rural folks fear that they may not get rice even during Tihar due to negligence on the part of employees at the NFC depot. Nepal Food Corporation, Surkhet, had made arrangements for supplying rice to all depots in Karnali by the first week of this month. Twenty-five quintal rice was transported to Shreenagar depot on September 18 and equal quantity of rice was already there in its stock. But, the depot failed to distribute rice to locals on time. Food Corporation Humla Chief Narayan KC said the depot failed to distribute rice due to employees’ absence. Shreenagar depot is located in a remote area of the district. The depot is supposed to distribute rice to the locals of Adanchuli and Tajakot rural municipalities. “The depot chief went on leave handing over depot keys to police. Earlier, rice used to be distributed directly to people in the presence of party leaders and police through contractor. KC said the depot started distributing rice after it received complaints of unfair distribution of rice by the contractor last year. Local party leaders said negligence on the part of staffers at the depot had created difficulty for the locals. CPN-UML Humla chair Dal Rawal complained that staffers’ negligence was sure to hit locals during Tihar. Employees at Humla headquarters Simikot depot are not reporting to their duty. “Rice has yet to be distributed from Simikot depot too,” he added. NC Humla President Jayapati Rokaya bemoaned that staffers’ negligence had given hard time to locals. Chief at Nepal Food Corporation, Surkhet, Bhim Thapa said that rice could not be distributed due to lack of employees at the depot. “Innocent and impoverished people are forced to bear the brunt due to employees’ negligence,” Thapa added. Nepal Food Corporation had supplied 29,000 quintal rice in Karnali targeting Dashain and Tihar. Unfortunately, a little amount of rice has been distributed in the district so far.