KMC bars people from serving meals to needy

KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 2

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has banned all volunteer groups, clubs and helping hands from randomly distributing food to the needy at Khulamanch.

A KMC authorities source told THT that Mayor Bidhya Sundar Shakya had himself directed the metropolis police to stop distributing food, saying that random distribution of food in an unmanaged way had brought shame to the local government.

Some volunteer groups had been providing lunch to underprivileged people there since the nationwide lockdown started on March 24 owing to the rising number of coronavirus cases. The practice continued even after the country partially lifted the lockdown. Every day some people could be seen distributing food to hundreds of people.

Most of those people eating there are daily wage earners who lives around Ason and Basantapur areas.

They were largely affected by the lockdown as business in the area almost came to a halt.

The metropolis had two days ago written a letter to its police unit asking them to stop such activities in the Tundikhel area. After that, the city police could be seen in the area stopping people from providing food or gathering there without any reason.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Dhanapati Sapkota, head of the metropolis police, said they had received order from the ‘metropolitan office’ to stop such activities. He said the order mentioned that since they didn’t know who were feeding them and what kind of food was served, it was best to stop such activities.

“Also, we don’t know if the food is well-cooked. Besides,people are also not following the social distancing rules,” DSP Sapkota said. He added that those who provided food didn’t also care about cleaning the area. The metropolis has asked such people to provide food from party palaces or restaurants if they are really interested in helping people.

A source citing Rajeshwor Gyawali, head administration officer said ,”There is no need to create a scene while making poor people sit on the dusty ground and offering them food. The quality of food is also not checked by any agency.” The source also said that Gyawali refused to be responsible if any untoward incident happened to people being fed at Khulamanch.

Feature image: File

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