On May 25, the District Administration Offices of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur had decided to extend Covid-19 prohibitory period in the valley till June 3.
KATHMANDU, MAY 27
The Kathmandu District Administration Office has provided essential phone numbers to facilitate procurement of grocery items as the stores have currently been asked not to operate in a bid to address the issue of overcrowding.
After being widely criticised for its decision to shut all the grocery stores following the latest lockdown extension, authorities came up with the move in a bid to address people's woes.
The administration has stated that, in case of any shortage of food supplies, the Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC) and Salt Trading Corporation Limited (STC) will facilitate the purchase and make deliveries through mobile vehicles during the prohibitory period.
The list of essential numbers as provided by Kathmandu administration:
Nepal Food Management and Trade Company Limited
- Chief Executive Officer Mohan Prakash Chand- 9851320314
- Department Head Bhim Bahadur Thapa - 9851136785
Salt Trading Corporation Limited
- Chief Executive Officer Urmila Shrestha - 9851022564
- Deputy Executive Officer Kumar Rajbhandari - 9851033303
- Departmental Head Sabal Rijal - 9851113660
- Official Prajwal Pradhan- 9841332990, 9813272563
Although the administration officials reasoned that grocery stores have been asked to pull their shutters down in a bid to prevent overcrowding and to break the chain of transmission of Covid-19, their decision was seen to have an opposite effect. The call for stocking up food items for a week, or more, created panic among buyers as there was more crowding than usual on Wednesday, which definitely did not look like the idea of breaking the chain worked.
On May 25, the District Administration Offices of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur had decided to extend Covid-19 prohibitory period in the valley till June 3.
Kathmandu DAO tightened the regulations by not allowing grocery and department stores to operate. However, shops selling vegetables, gas cylinders, dairy and meat products have been allowed to remain open till 9:00 am.
At present, there are 27,732 active cases of infection in the valley
