ROLPA?Many villages have been unable to get medical supplies because security forces have blocked them to prevent supplies from reaching the Maoists. Rolpa has been a refuge for injured rebels and a training ground for Maoists. To control the growing activity of the rebels in that area, security forces have barred transport of medicine and food supplies to rural areas for the past three months. But local people say the blockade has affected their lives. In Kot, 63-year-old Bir Maya has been unable have her wound healed for the last two months after she fell off a tree and broke her arm. She has been visiting the local health post only to find that they have no medicines. She cannot afford to travel to another district for treatment and now has been using local medicinal herbs but her pain is still severe. In Tribeni, Ram Bahadur Pun has been suffering from stomach ailment for several months. ?I have been in pain for a long time,? he says. The posts have even run out of Jivan Jal. ?Many villagers have no choice but to travel all the way to Nepalganj and Dang,? says pharmacist Yam Bahadur Basnet. Food supplies have been restricted and the people of this district have not seen rice for many months. Says Bir Bahadur of Rangkot: ?The Maoists have made Rolpa unfit to live in and the security forces have been harassing us poor people.?