The jeep on its way to Hepka Khola from Simkot fell off the road near Dadafyan in Simkot Rural Municipality on Friday night.

The surrounding hills and meadows of Rara, Murma, Talcha, Bam, Dolfu, Chhayanath among others are blanketed with snow.

While villages in Karnali face shortage of food grains, subsidised rice meant for the region are being sold elsewhere.

The Food Management and Trading Company Limited could not transport food to Mugu due to lockdown and disruption of Namga-Gamgadhi road by floods and landslides.

The provincial government had allocated Rs 30 million for the 14-km track.

For most families in the rural municipalities, Yarsha collection is the only source of income.

Locals say they earn enough money from the annual harvest to get them through the year.

For lack of a chief, locals have to walk for two days to Gamgadhi, the district headquarters of Mugu, to make citizenship certificate.

The move has been launched with an aim to reduce residents’ dependence on forest resources, to protect the municipality’s forests.

Snowfall started on Thursday evening after temperatures plummeted.

Local units in the district don’t have their own office buildings, and people are not happy about it.

The national park has not run development activities and income-generating programmes for locals due to lack of funds.

Police personnel deployed up north have also moved to the district headquarters.

Different species of ducks, especially Siberian ones, visit Rara every winter, conservationists say.

The residents of Mugu are compelled to buy rice in the local markets at a high price.