National
Govt sends rice to drought-hit areas
The government has started transporting rice to the drought-hit districts in Karnali under the ‘food for work’ programme.The government has started transporting rice to the drought-hit districts in Karnali under the ‘food for work’ programme. Rice, provided by the Bangladeshi government in a grant for earthquake victims and stored at the Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) godown in Nepalgunj and Surkhet, is being airlifted to the affected areas.
The government has declared “Karnali Special Programme” and decided to distribute rice in the drought-hit villages. According to the NFC, 30,000 quintals of rice will be distributed in four districts of Karnali and 4,000 quintals in Bajura district.
NFC Zonal chief Suryamani Khanal said they have already transported 350 quintals of rice to the Mugu district headquarters and 370 quintals to Sorukot. The corporation aims to ferry 1,500 quintal rice to the remote villages in Mugu.
The NFC has also airlifted 80 quintal rice to the Kalikot district headquarters, 86 quintals to Padamghat and 82 quintals to Khallagad.
“We have no alternative but to airlift rice to the drought affected areas,” said Khanal. But the corporation had been unable to transport rice since Sunday due to bad weather.
Likewise, the NFC is going to transport 4,000 quintal rice to Shreenagar in Humla district. However, NFC staff are struggling to ferry rice in Dolpa district due to difficult terrain.