Sittoli had brought 22 kgs of potatoes from her village. She wanted to buy rice grains with the money that she would get by selling her potatoes. She earned Rs 990 by selling her potatoes per kg Rs 45. But, she could not buy even a single kg of rice grains. [break]
As soon as she sold out her potatoes, Sattoli rushed to the Darchula district office of Cottage and Small Industries, which has been selling rice grains supplied by the Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) in recent days, only to return empty-handed.
Having returned empty-handed even from nearby Indian towns, Sittoli wanted to buy just 30 kgs of rice grains for her family. But, Narbhan Theker, an office assistant at the Khalanga depot of the NFC, refused to sell even a single kg of rice grains to her. “We do not have rice grains,” said Theker. “Come again tomorrow or day after tomorrow.”
Sittoli thought Theker was lying. So, ignoring Theker and other NFC officials, she barged into the go-down, only to seed the whole room empty. “I could not find rice grains anywhere,” said a dejected Sittoli. “How will I feed my children now?”
After failing to buy rice grains, Sittoli bought a few kgs of sugar and beans before returning home.
In the aftermath of the recent devastating Mahakali river flood, which swept away many houses and rendered dozens of families homeless, the locals of the flood-hit villages are now finding it difficult to cope with the food shortage.
After the Mahakali flood damaged the Baitadi-Darchula road in many places, NFC has been unable to supply food grains to Khalanga. Food grains are supplied by NFC to Dadeldhura, from where the Nepal Army (NA) helicopters are expected to transport them to Khalanga. But, due to over-work and adverse weather conditions, the NA choppers, too, have not been able to supply all food-items to Khalanga in time.
Days after NFC supplied 300 quintals of rice grains to Dadeldhura by trucks, an NA helicopter transported 143 quintals to Khalanga on Saturday. But, all 143 quintals of rice grains were sold out just in two days´ time.
As soon as he knew about the supply of rice grains, Bhagrathi Karki, a resident of Chhapari VDC-7 of Darchula, rushed to Khalanga on Monday. But, by the time he reached Khalanga, NFC go-down had already run out of stock. “I did not get rice grains,” said Karki. “I will now stay in Khalanga for a few more days. If I do not get to buy rice grains, I will have to return empty-handed.”
On Saturday, apart from rice grains, the NA chopper had transported 10 quintals of pulse, eight quintals of sugar, 12 sacks of beaten rice and 1,000 liters of edible oil to Khalanga. “There are no more rice-sacks left,” said Prem Singh Kunwar, junior assistant at Nepal Salt Trading Corporation Limited, Darchula. “We only have a few sacks of beaten rice, sugar and edible oil left now.”
No more food grains have been supplied to Darchula since Saturday. As food grains meant for Darchula get stuck in Dadeldhura and Surkhet, the flood victims have been facing severe food shortage.
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