More food ration packs dropped off by the Ministry of Economy following protest by Muanikoso villagers

More assistance has reached the affected families of Muanikoso Settlement following the protests for urgent food assistance yesterday.

Ministry of Economy Coordinator Kamal Gounder says they delivered more than 150 food packs in the area last night while around 100 packs were delivered earlier yesterday.

Gounder says they have a schedule for the areas which are under lockdown and they follow that schedule for ration distribution.

A resident, Milika Naulumatua says they are grateful to the government for the assistance which will last them till the end of the week.

Naulumatua says they last received the assistance on the 29th of May but it did not last for a week because most of them live with extended families.

She says they decided to organize a peaceful protest to voice their grievances when they had no other option.

Police intervened and contacted officials at the Ministry of Economy to get food ration packs delivered after a group of people from Muanikoso Village came out with placards to protest.

The villagers say they have been on lockdown since May 22nd and they cannot move out to get food for their families or go out to their workplaces.

It is also not known at this stage on when the lockdown in Muanikoso will come to an end.

Police confirm that the villagers were protesting to get food ration packs for their families.

They asked the villagers to return home peacefully and Police then contacted the Ministry of Economy to get the urgent food packs.

We also received confirmation from a resident of Muanikoso Settlement, Jaineshni Devi that they have received food rations from the government yesterday after asking for assistance for more than a week and a half as both Devi and her husband are not working and they have two children aged 16 and 17 years.

Devi says they had to contact family members to come with at least a few things to drop at the checkpoint in the past two weeks as they cannot leave the area.

She says she also saw the Muanikoso villagers protesting to get food as the people distributing the rations earlier today had run out of the packs.