• WFP relief distribution

KATHMANDU: A senior United Nations official today claimed that World Food Programme never distributed damaged foods to earthquake victims in Nepal.

John Ging, Director of Coordination and Response Division, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), dismissed media reports that WFP was supplying substandard and inedible food items as ‘nonsense’.

“I am surprised because some nonsense is being reported. WFP has never supplied damaged foods,” said Ging during a press conference at the UN House on Wednesday.

I am surprised because some nonsense is being reported. I found no connection between the reports in the media and the reality in the field

— John Ging, Director of Coordination and Response Division, UNOCHA

He said some rice and pulses that WFP — the food assistance arm of the UN — bought from local suppliers were found to be damaged and that they have already been replaced or being replaced. “I found no connection between the reports in the media and the reality in the field,” said Ging. Ging, who arrived in Nepal on Sunday for a three-day visit, also visited Sindhupalchowk district and interacted with quake-affected people.

He said he would make a report in the UN so as ‘to have this situation corrected’. As operational head of OCHA, Ging, an Irish national, oversees the day-to-day management of all UN’s emergency relief operations worldwide.

Nevertheless, samples test done by the government’s Food Technology and Quality Control Department had found out some rice and pulses distributed by WFP in Kavre and Gorkha districts were sub-standard and unfit for human consumption.

Last week, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had drawn attention of the visiting UN Under-Secretary General Gyan Chandra Acharya to the quality of food items being distributed by WFP.

Ging said the UN and WFP have given high priority for the humanitarian response in Nepal despite situations is equally bleak in other crisis-hit zones like Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Ging, during his stay in Kathmandu, also called on Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam and Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey.

He urged both the ministers to ease customs clearance process and exempt tax on the relief supplies and donations that come from abroad.

“Taxing on donations is not according to the international norms and practice,” he said. “We have requested the government to facilitate the customs clearance process and exempt tax on donations.”

Stating that the phase of relief-operation has been over, Nepal government lifted unconditional tax exemption on relief materials to coming from foreign donors. Home Ministry Spokesperson Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, however, stated that donors can still get tax waiver on relief goods by applying for the same at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Ging also expressed concern about bureaucratic delays in the process of relief distribution and asked the government to ensure effective and efficient mechanism to this effect.

According to him, only 10 per cent corrugated zinc sheets have been distributed to affected people of Sindhupalchowk district even though monsoon has already been active.

Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal, said life support materials, including shelters and food supplies should be urgently distributed to the quake-affected people living in hilly areas and mountain slopes.

The WFP recently ran into controversy after reports that it was distributing sub-standard foods.

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