Barekot, an ultra-remote village in Jajarkot, has been grappling with food crisis for the past month due to a negligent contractor who failed to supply state-subsidised rice to the village within the stipulated time. The villagers do not have a food stockpile and new crops have yet to be harvested. 

The negligent contractor, Sapana and Saroj Construction had taken the monthly delivery of 187 quintals of rice from Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) branch office in Khalanga but delivered only 120 quintals.

 “The remaining rice has been left stranded in Khurpa, Fulchauli and other villages,” said Hari Bahadur Thapa, a local at Sirpachour village. “The Barekot depot is now out of food.” Thapa said that many villagers who had arrived at the depot walking 4-5 hours to collect the food were forced to return empty handed. “Nearly, 20,000 villagers in Ramidanda, Nayakbada, Sakla and Rokaya are facing food crisis.” The food crisis problem in Barekot, however, is not new. 

The village has been suffering from such crisis for a long time. The locals had even appealed the concerned authorities to supply food to the village within the stipulated time, but their concerns have not been heeded. As the village does not produce enough rice to feed its population, it faces food crisis, said Netra Singh, a local of Barekot. “The food depot is there, but it’s always empty,” said Singh. “The depot doesn’t receive rice for more than two times in a year.” He said that there was negligence from the contractor as well. 

Due to the food crisis, villagers are forced to buy mota rice at Rs60 per kg, which is highly expensive, said Ram Chaya Singh, another local. “We hardly get the state-subsidised rice in the depot.” Ram Bahadur Basnet, chief of the NFC branch office, said that the office has not been able to supply rice within the stipulated time due to the negligence from the transport entrepreneurs. “Besides, there is no road to supply rice up to the local depot.”

He said that the transport entrepreneurs had to supply 700 quintals rice by mid-February as per the contract, but the depot received only 200 quintals of rice. He said that the transporter do not have obligation to supply rice within the stipulated time as they don’t have to put in a performance bond. 

Likewise, there are no mules and horses in the villages to transport goods to the depot. Basnet said that the villagers have been demanding the office to supply rice immediately. 

“We have asked the contractor to transport rice as soon as possible but they have not listened to us.” The Ghat depot in Barekot has targeted distributing 2,000 quintals of rice this fiscal year. The district food coordination committee has also frequently asked the contractor to supply the rice in Ghat depot. The contractor, on the other hand, said that they don’t have horses and mules to transport rice from Khurpa to Ghat dept even after paying Rs1,200 transportation charge for supplying a quintal of rice. “The consignment has been delayed due to transportation problem,” said Jit Bahadur Sunar, proprietor of Sapana and Saroj Construction.