'As rice price rockets, many can't afford two meals a day'
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 22 2019: With the price of rice touching sky, many in remote villages are having hard time getting two meals a day.

Biisho Koide, a Paomai village some 15 kilometres from Maram Bazar in Senapati district's Purul subdivision is not exceptional to the hardship many villages in the State are facing today.

A bumpy ride from Maram bazar, the road to Biisho Koide village has no blacktopping for most of the part.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, Biisho Koide Village Women Society secretary Th Thairu said that the village has about 80 households with a population of about 500 .

Of the total, only 300 are eligible voters, she said and added that most of the villagers are poor with cultivation as main profession.

The village has only 5 Government employees.

Three are employed in the Police Department while two are teachers, she said.

As rice price rockets, many can't afford two meals a day

With the price of imported rice (Super fine) reaching Rs 25 to Rs 30 and that of the local rice reaching as high as Rs 50 in the market/shops, most of the families in the village are not able to get two meals a day, she said.

The villagers travel to Koide Khunjao to procure the PDS rice at Rs 3 per Kg.

Even though they get the subsidised rice every month, the mere amount of the rice is not enough to feed the entire members of some big families, she said.

Most of the households buy rice from the market/shops to make up the shortage.

But due to soaring price of the rice, most of the villagers are confining to just one meal a day, she added.

The story is same for other villages also, Thairu said appealing the State Government to look into the plight and grievances of the people in remote villages and control the price hike.

The village has a Government Upper Primary School with four teachers and 46 students.

After primary education, most of the children go to Koide Khunjao, Maram and Imphal for further studies, she said.

When asked about the availability of clean drinking water, Thairu said that a water supply tank constructed in 2009-10 by PHED is yet to provide drinking water.

Commenting on the Go To Village/Hill Mission, she said that a mission programme was organised at Koide Khunjao months ago, but the villagers are yet to get any benefit from the programme.

"We are still waiting for our grievances to be addressed", she said.

Concerned with the degrading environment and the barren hills around the village, she also appealed the State Government and Forest Department to provide tree saplings.

Other villages near Biisho Koide are Koide Khunjao, Kapao village, Reafii village, Thingba Khullen village, Oinam village and Purul etc.