Delhi Sikh body sends 25,000 food packets to Nepal

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC) on Monday sent 25,000 food packets to the quake-hit Nepal to help those affected there.

The food packets were transported on Indian Air Force IAF aircraft. More food packets are likely to be dispatched to Nepal later on Monday, DSGMC media adviser Parminder Pal Singh told IANS.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had on Sunday directed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and DSGMC to start air-lifting the food packets to Kathmandu every day.

Both organisations have also been asked to make arrangements to start 'langar' (community meal) for the affected people in Kathmandu and other places.

Badal asked both organisations, which manage gurdwaras (Sikh shrines) in Punjab and Delhi respectively, to pool resources to prepare a 'langar' for 10,000 people at Kathmandu till the time it is required.

DSGMC president Manjit Singh G.K. said the IAF was being requested to make arrangements to air-lift 10 tonnes of raw material to Kathmandu for preparation of fresh langar, while 20 volunteers and around the same number of cooks would also be airlifted to Kathmandu to operationalise the langar.

"This will be started at a central place in Kathmandu in consultation with the Nepalese government," he said

In Chandigarh, the Punjab government has set up a control room in the Punjab secretariat to help people from the state who are stranded in Nepal.

Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal said the Punjab government would tie up with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to dispatch relief material required in Nepal.