GORKHA: Villagers of seven VDCs of Gorkha district will be forced to celebrate this Dashain munching on wild roots and bulbs, as drought has hit the crop yield this year. To make matters worse, the Nepal Food Corporation seems unlikely to supply the rice to the area before Dashain. More than 10,000 residents of seven VDCs in northern part of the district have been facing food shortage. Laxman Ghale, a resident of Sirdibas VDC, said the villagers did not even have a few grains of rice to prepare tika. “There is no rice. Millet is of no use for tika,” Ghale added. Gorkha branch of the Nepal Food Corporation claims that due to the poor condition of roads, the rice meant for seven VDCs has been stored in the district headquarters. The residents of Sirdibas, Lho, Prok, Bihi, Chumchet, Chhekampar and Samagoan in northern Gorkha are hit the hardest, as it has been two years since the Chinese authorities sealed the border with Tibet. The food corporation office in Gorkha said supply of rice in the VDCs bordering Tibet before Dashain is possible only if it were airlifted on a helicopter. The locals are seeking at least 400 quintals of rice to meet Dashain demand. The District Agriculture Office showed the need of 20,000 quintals of rice for the VDCs of Machhakhola area and 11,000 quintals of rice for the VDCs in Philim area. The food management committee stated that it was going to provide 1,900 quintals of rice to Sirdibas’s Philim depot and 1,600 quintals of rice to Gumda Machhaklola depot. The district based food management committee has allocated 400 quintals rice for Philim depot for Dashain. According to senior assistant at Gorkha NFC Ambika Ghimire, the rice allocated by the food management committee was unlikely to get there before Dashain. Even if it does, quantity will so little that the villagers will get only a handful of rice, Ghimire added.

Mugu no better

MUGU: Drought and poor roads have also hit food supply to rural areas of Mugu district. According to NFC, even the district headquarters Gamgadhi has been facing food shortage as the contractors did not supply food on time though there are three depots in the rural areas of the district. Ubbajan Shahi, a local, said one of the three depots, Srikot, supplied 72 quintals for Gamtha VDC, 36 quintals for Khamale VDC, 72 quintals for Seri VDC, 218 quintals for Sukadhik VDC and 36 quintals for Kotdanda VDC of Khatyad area. But no rice was supplied to Hyangalu VDC. Villagers were forced to buy rice from Surkhet by collecting Rs 1.2 lakhs after DDC decided not to allocate budget for rice for the VDCs this year. Thirteen VDCs have been facing food crunch, as they could not collect money to buy rice. “The World Food Programme has given assistance to some VDCs, but they face starvation in winter, as millet, paddy and other crops’ yield was hit by the drought,” Sonam Lama of Magri VDC said. Seven VDCs of Khatyad area, seven of Sorha area, five of Karan area and five of Gam area will face starvation in case the government does not supply rice on time. — HNS