Rajunath Pandey, chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Police, has said that when protestors set fire to properties during the Gen-Z movement, attempts to use fire trucks to save the properties were met with stone-pelting, making it impossible to extinguish the fires immediately.
Pandey shared this information amid public complaints that the KMC Police did not dispatch fire trucks to the requested locations on time, causing significant losses to the country.
Addressing a press conference at Bag Durbar on Thursday, Pandey explained that fire trucks could not come out to the streets due to the protests, arson, and vandalism. On the evening of September 9, a fire engine dispatched from Bauddha was pelted with stones at Chabahil, and even a Nepal Army vehicle was attacked with stones, he added.
He clarified that two fire trucks were deployed from 8:15 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. to extinguish the fire at Singha Durbar.
He mentioned that it became easier to extinguish the fires after the Nepal Army took charge of security.
Fire trucks were also deployed at Bhatbhateni, Hilton Hotel, the Supreme Court, and Singhadurbar, Pandey said.
“After the Nepal Army was deployed for security, we coordinated and deployed fire trucks to necessary locations. We worked throughout the night. Even after repeatedly extinguishing the fires, they reignited, so we had to go back dozens of times,” he said.
Pandey emphasized that the KMC Police did not delay in sending fire trucks whenever possible.
“The claims that the KMC did not send fire trucks are false,” he said. “We used fire trucks safely based on security assurances."
He also claimed that the KMC Police was involved in arranging treatment and meals for the injured.
Pandey said that KMC deployed five fire trucks in the Kathmandu Valley.
