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Food crisis looms in Farwest
NEPALGUNJ, MAY 11 -
Transportation budget crunch prevents the Nepalgunj-based Nepal Food Corporation (NFC)’s zonal office from delivering food grains to 22 districts in Midwest and Farwest Nepal.
The government-announced Rs.354 million budget for the transport of around 11,090 tonnes of food allotted to the Midwest and Farwest this fiscal year is barely enough to cover the shipment cost of half of the consignment, NFC officials said.
NFC’s zonal office has halted food delivery since a month citing budget crunch. The impact of the non-delivery has started to surface in districts like Mugu, Humla and Dolpa. NFC’s vendors in these districts have already sounded the food crisis alarm.
“The monsoon is around the corner. Thus it is best that the food delivery be made before the monsoon sets in,” NFC’s zonal office Acting chief Durga Prasad Ojha said, warning that roads leading to many districts, including Mugu, Jumla, Humla, Dolpa, Bajhang and Bajura would be blocked during the rainy season and affect the food supply. “Air transportation will be costly,” Ojha said. Transporting food by air would cost the government threefold as much as it does to do the same by road.
Meanwhile, a source said the government officials are deliberately delaying the budget release so that the foodstuff has to be delivered by air at high cost during the monsoon. He said some unscrupulous government officials are working hand-in-glove with airline companies to earn commission.
NFC officials said they have struggled with the problem of insufficient transport budget in the past as well. “We can transport the food materials at cheaper rates if the government approves the budget before monsoon, but that has never happened so far,” Yam Upadhyaya, an official at the NFC zonal office, said.
Posted on: 2010-05-12 07:28
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