Bajura sells food grains, but reels under rice shortage

Experts attribute growing preference among the district residents for rice over local crops as one of the factors for the scarcity

The Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) in Bajura had a tough time on Sunday after locals in large numbers gathered at its depot in Martadi to buy subsidised rice. “We had to get police help to control the crowd. We had 300 quintals of ‘Mota’ rice in stock. All the rice was sold out in a day,” said Umesh Bhandari, chief at the FMTC Bajura branch. Despite distributing 25 kg per person, the FMTC could sell rice to only about 1,000 people. Hundreds others had to return empty-handed.