The people in remote Wai region of  Bajura district have requested the political parties and their leaders to ensure food security before holding the second phase of local election. 

The region is reeling under food shortage due to drought for the last three years. Hundreds of hectares of farmland are barren.

Jayasur Kathayat, a local, said with the local election approaching near, their request to the parties and their candidates is to supply rice in the region. 

“We cannot participate in the election on empty stomachs,” said Kathayat.

Ishwor Raj Giri, another local, echoed a similar sentiment. 

“The people here are going through different troubles to manage enough food to survive on a daily basis. They are not going to take the trouble of participating in the election if they have nothing to eat,” he said. 

 According to the District Agriculture Development Office, the annual food demand of Bajura is increasing by 11,000 metric tonnes annually, but its agricultural output has been disproportionately low.

Although the government has assured to distribute 20 quintals of rice in the drought-hit areas under the Food for Work Programme, the targetted communities have not received a single grain of rice till date.

Kathayat said they have been working relentlessly digging earth and stones for a road, but the rice pledged by the government has still not reached them. 

“We were told that we would get 4kg rice if we contributed three hours of labour daily for the road. But now the government people are telling us that the rice would be distributed after the project is completed,” he said.  

Dal Bahadur Thapa of the District Coordination Committee, however, said there was no such agreement on daily rice distribution. “The villagers will get their share of rice after the project is completed,” he said.