NEW DELHI: Five months after the communal riots that had engulfed northeast Delhi, the traders in Gokulpuri tyre market have started picking up pieces with the help from Jamiat Ulama-i- Hind (JUH). The organisation has reconstructed 97 shops, which were ransacked and set on fire by the rioters.
One of the victims, Mohd Khalid (60), said restoration of the shop had got his life back on track but still a lot is to be done.
“The riots had rendered me penniless. The government promised Rs five lakh as compensation but I was paid only Rs 1.5 lakh. The financial assistance I received was exhausted as I have no other source of income. I will use my savings, which I had kept for my daughter’s wedding, to purchase stock,” said Kahlid, the father of five children—three girls and two boys.
The communal violence erupted after a series of pro and anti-citizenship amendment act (CAA) in northeast Delhi in February left a trail of misery and destruction of houses and shops. The Gokulpuri market, comprising over 200 shops owned by Muslims, was one among them.
With no resources and funds, Khalid and several other riot victims-owners approached JUH for help. The organisation took up the responsibility to rehabilitate them.
On Friday, redeveloped shops were handed over to their owners in the presence of east Delhi District Magistrate Shashi Kaushal and other senior officials of the district. Maulana Mahmood Madani, general secretary of JUH, said that the organisation is committed to a humanistic approach and “for us the service to mankind is the utmost duty.”
The JUH also demanded that the government should enhance compensation to riot victims so that they can re-establish their business set ups.
Gokulpuri is on Jaffrabad- Maujpur corridor which had seen a significant amount of violence including death of a head constable Ratan Lal.