Humla’s grocery stores have reported food shortage after the government extended nationwide lockdown for one more week. To address that, the Nepali Food Corporation (NFC) has started supplying the material via Sita Air on Wednesday.

According to Ram Bahadur Bista, district depot chief of NFC, 56 quintals of rice have been imported in the district on Wednesday.

“The shortage will be solved from Thursday and the supply will be regular,” Bista said. According to him, the district has about 3,800 quintals of rice in stock in various depots around the district.

Humla is a district that is yet to be connected with the national road network, so all the essentials such as food and medicine have to be ferried in via helicopters.

The supply was started following an order from the minister of supplies, according to Chief District Officer Binita Bhattarai.

The Simkot depo of NFC will distribute the supplies to the district’s northern villages such as Namkha and Kharpunath, while the authorities are planning to supply the material to the district’s southern belt, to districts such as Sarkegadh, Chankheli and Adanchuli.