The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC) will airlift 25,000 food packets daily for earthquake-hit Nepal from Monday. Besides, the two Sikh organisations would also make arrangements to start ‘langar’ (community meal) for the affected people in Kathmandu.
The directions in this regard were issued on Sunday by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, who is also the Shiromani Akali Dal president, the party heading the two Sikh organisations.
Following the directions, the DSGMC held an emergency meeting on Sunday at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in New Delhi and decided that the first consignment of 25,000 packets will be air-lifted to Kathmandu by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday morning, said its president Manjit Singh GK.
Sukhbir 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 such time that it is required. He said that he would himself coordinate with the IAF to ensure that the food packets reach the affected people quickly.
Manjit Singh said that 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,
Noting that the Sikhs and Punjabis have always been at the forefront in providing succour in times of natural calamities be it the recent floods in Kashmir or those in Uttarakhand earlier, Sukhbir said: “Even this time, we will do our best to mitigate the sorrows of our Nepali brethren.”
“SAD would also coordinate with the Nepalese Government to find out if there are any other requirements. If there is a demand for dry ration including milk powder and biscuits or clothes and tents, the same would also be sent to Nepal at the earliest,” Sukhbir said.