Gore Rokaya lives in Dhuli village, the last human settlement in the northern region of Bajhang. His family has 12 members. He has also reared 185 sheep. There are also 11 cows in the barn. It snows in winter in his village located in Saipal Rural Municipality-4, which is reached after a three-day walk from the headquarters of Chainpur.

For that time, his family has done the weeding of food, firewood and cattle. But even after the snow has started, the salt has not been washed away. If a little salt could have been used, it would have been used. We need 20/22 kilos a month, it will be very little in winter!' said Rokaya. 

Here every year the Salt Trading Corporation sells salt with a shipping subsidy. There, Rokaya's family got 156 kilos twice in 2080 November and 081 June. The corporation distributed 10 kg of salt per person for the first time and 3 kg for the second time based on the population in coordination with the ward office. No salt has been shipped since then. Only sheep should be fed salt at the rate of 9 kg every 15/15 days. We need 20/22 kg of salt, he said. 

Motima Rokaya from Dhuli said that she has been running salt on her feet since a month ago. It has started snowing. They have not brought salt yet. Other people's houses are also running out. It's like you have to eat a little during the winter,'' she said. She said that sheep and cattle also need to be fed with salt, so they need four/five kilos of salt in a week. Jaisingh Rokaya, ward president of Saipal-4, says that if salt does not arrive within this month, there will be a shortage of salt in the whole village.

The problem of salt has started all over Saipal Municipality due to non-transportation by Salt Trading Corporation. According to the 2078 census, the population of Saipal Municipality is 2,625. Salt Trading had selected the transporter for the transportation of salt to Saipal by inviting bids on July 4. The corporation had published a notice on August 20 last year to invite the selected contractors to come for the contract.

"The corporation also gave a letter saying that they will come to make a deal, but when they go to make a deal, sometimes they are delaying what, sometimes what," said Topnarayan Chalise of the selected transporter company, Deuti Bajai Construction, "They are saying that the salt has run out, they have to ship quickly." How can we start the work without a contract?'' He said that the corporation refused to enter into a transportation contract because the case was filed in the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority regarding Saipal's salt transportation.

Salt Trading Corporation Bajhang depot head Nar Bahadur Dhant said that 796 quintals of salt sent last year will be used till this month. "If the transportation is not done immediately, the shortage of salt will increase from January," he said. If it snows, it can be transported only in March. In that case, there may be more problems.' He said that he did not know anything about the reason for not having an agreement on salt transportation. 

This year, Salt Trading has allocated a quota of 900 quintals of salt for Saipal. Chairman of Saipal Rural Municipality, Manvir Bohra, said that while the contract for subsidized transportation under the gonorrhoea control program has been approved for Rs. They say that the contract has not been reached before shipping the contractor quickly. They say that there is a problem with salt trading. They don't say what the issue is,' he said, 'anyway, we had to eat salt.' 

Until 2073, residents of Saipal had to pay up to 250 rupees per kg to buy salt. On October 12, 2073, a news was published under the title 'Salt as expensive as gold' that the residents of Saipal had to buy the salt which was given by the state at the rate of 9 rupees per kg as a transportation subsidy to the residents of Bajhang. Soon after the publication of the news, the Corporation established a distribution center in Saipal and arranged to give salt at Rs 9. This year has been delayed due to continuous shipments since then. 

When I contacted Sharmila Shakya, Acting Head of Salt Trading Corporation, to get information about the delay in shipment, she said that she was not aware of this matter at first and she would understand it after a while. After that, she did not want to be contacted when she called continuously. 

is always salty-rice-thin 

This is not the first time that residents of Saipal rural municipality have to worry about salt and rice. Even though the Food Arrangement Company Limited has set up a temporary distribution center for the distribution of rice, flour and other food grains and salt trading corporation with iodized salt under the transportation subsidy of the Government of Nepal, the shipment is not being carried out on time. That's why there is a shortage of salt and rice in Saipal. 

Since salt is distributed once a year and rice twice a year, those who do not have enough money cannot buy enough food for the whole year at once. During winters and monsoons, when the roads are closed, the residents face starvation. In the winter of 2077 and 2078, the government had to transport rice by helicopter after the severe food crisis when the road was closed due to snow.