Hemkunt Foundation's Covid facility ransacked in Gurugram, FIR registered

The FIR stated that the NGO had received land from a wedding planner verbally for two months in first week of May 2021 at Sector-61, for setting up a Covid transit camp.

Gurugram:A Covid care centre set up by the NGO Hemkunt Foundation here in Sector-61, was allegedly vandalised by a group of men, police said on Friday.

An FIR was also registered in connection with the case following a complaint by the Hemkunt Foundation on Thursday.

The FIR stated that the NGO had received land from Vinesh Gujjar, Babli (Rama Tent House) verbally for two months in first week of May 2021 at Sector-61, for setting up a Covid transit camp.

"On June 2, Babli along with Vinesh Gujjar's colleague came to the facility in the evening and told us to vacate this facility by June 10. The next day our guards informed us that Babli along with 20 people without information had picked all the generators," the complainant Jitender Pal Singh told the police.

"We reached the spot around 10 am and in front of us those people torn our banners. We requested and begged for some time that will lookup for another space to transit oxygen cylinder, concentrator and ration. We also noticed that the bouncers were carrying pistol along with them," Singh said.

Read:Religious body breaks century old tradition, allow non-veg food in premises

We were lucky that we did not have any patients as it was morning. But people were coming to refill their oxygen cylinders," Singh said.

"I have been receiving death threats for the past few days and the police have been informed about it," he said.

In a tweet, the Foundation stated, "Our O2 Centre at Gurugram was destroyed forcefully and our belongings were damaged".

Harteerath Singh, community development director, issued an appeal to continue helping everyone in need. "We need access to 20,000 square feet of space at or near the Gurugram City Centre. Please help us spread the word," the tweet read.

Meanwhile, the tent provider, who looked after the land, has accused the NGO of trying to set up a warehouse for storing ration instead as there were no patients for the past 10 days.

Read:Baboon cutouts to counter monkey menace at Covid Centre

"We gave the land to the NGO for setting up a temporary Covid centre for just two months. As the number of covid cases are decreasing, there was no patient for the past several days and the landowner asked the NGO to vacate the land. Some NGO volunteers told the landowner that they are distributing ration kits to the protesting farmers. It's been four days, the NGO still hasn't vacated the land," said Jagat Singh, the tent house operator.

Soon after the incident, a police team reached the spot and Badshahpur SDM Satish Yadav also visited the site.

"We are talking to the NGO representative and the landowner. We have asked the owner to give the NGO some time to vacate the land as it is doing social work," the SDM said.

IANS