Kathmandu May 10.

The Valley Municipality Forum has pledged to provide employment rather than relief packages to those hit hardest by the ongoing lockdown. The Forum comprising Mayors and Deputy Mayors of two metropolis and 16 municipalities in Kathmandu Valley has decided to comply with the government ordered lockdown while roping able human resources with labour and employment. The federal government has been enforcing the nationwide lockdown since March 24 to prevent and control the outbreak of COVID-19. Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor and also the Forum Chairperson Bidya Sundar Shakya said, “The government has decided to relax the lockdown in its latest decision. We will now onward shift our focus on providing employments rather than relief packages to the daily wage earners.” The daily wage earners and impoverished community were hardest hit by the stay-at-home order because all the private and government offices were closed and human movement and vehicular traffic were not allowed during this period. However, vehicles with essential supplies and services have been permitted during this time. Mayor Shakya said that as per the government’s decision to allow the operation of the essential enterprises on the condition of compliance of the safety measures from May 8, the Forum has decided to facilitate the operation of such enterprises in the Kathmandu Valley. The office bearers of the Forum had called on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Ishwor Pokharel some days ago and urged to tighten the influx of people and vehicles into Kathmandu Valley while it demanded to relax the lockdown to some extent inside the Valley. The Bhaktapur Municipality has already mobilized the able human resources in various local units who were left unemployed due to lockdown.