A teacher at the school where my children study called up to say that the fee for next quarter is due. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my means of livelihood had been reduced to ashes in the riots,” said Nafees-ul-Hasan, who owned Raja Automobiles, a tyre and motor parts store at Gokulpuri tyre market in northeast Delhi.
Situated right next to the Gokulpuri Metro station, the market, which once buzzed with the cackle of dealers and customers, was reduced to a smouldering pile of ashes after it was set on fire by a mob on February 24.
Though the riots, which put Delhi on edge, was still at a nascent stage at the time, the incident itself, complete with its ghastly and terror-inducing import, bore a chilling pointer to the wanton violence and arson that was to follow.
Three days on, neighbourhoods across the riot-racked parts of the city bore tell-tale signs of deranged mob fury, which opened gaping wounds on the inclusive soul of the national capital.
At least, 53 innocent lives had been lost by the time the fire, touched off by riotous mobs that took over the streets of northeast Delhi, died out.
Picking up the pieces
Picking up the pieces of a charred engine part near his shop, Nafees, also known as Raja in his neighbourhood, said, “The damage done to our (local auto parts dealers’) shops has set us back by at least two years. It will take us a long time to recover from the financial loss. However, the bigger problem that we face is that we are still not being allowed to build our businesses from scratch.”
Mohammad Rashid, president, Gokulpuri Tyre Market Association, majority of the 224 shops in the market has been reduced to rubble. Some shops were charred so badly that they may never rise from their ruins again.
“I bought a car a few days before riots started. I was on a visit to the market on February 25 when a group of rioters stormed the area and went about looting the stores. They tore down and destroyed whatever they could lay their hands on. They were armed and fast approaching where I stood. I left my car where it was and ran for my life. I later found it reduced to a burnt heap of metal. I now have to fill papers to claim compensation,” Rashid said.
Struggle for relief
Vinod Kumar, a grocery store owner from Yamuna Vihar, said while the rubble would be removed from the streets and the city would rise again from the numbing blow inflicted by the utterly senseless trail of violence, the mental scars of people who lived through those days may never go away. “I filled out a compensation form for the significant damage wrought to my house and was given Rs 25,000 in cash by the sub-divisional magistrate.
Though the process of assessing and verifying my compensation claim has been completed, some officers said it might take a while before I get my final compensation amount. Till I receive that quantum of relief, I won’t be able to recover from the riots and start afresh. Outsiders came, pillaged and destroyed our lives, leaving us to pick up the pieces,” Kumar said. Recalling the nightmare that visited him and many others in Shiv Vihar, which was among the worst hit by the violence, Rohit said the compensation promised to his neighbour, Nitesh, is yet to arrive. “Nitesh was shot in the shoulder. Though he submitted the compensation form issued by the Delhi government, the full amount promised hasn’t yet arrived,” said Rohit of his neighbour in Shiv Vihar’s Phase 7.
Help at hand
Four weeks on, life in northeast Delhi may be limping back to normal but houses and commercial establishments targeted by rioters still bear the signs of the carnage.
After three days of seemingly unrelenting violence, the Delhi government moved into gear and put its entire machinery at work to apply salve on a wounded city.
The district magistrate’s office in northeast Delhi’s Nandnagri has seen a steady stream of visitors, mostly victims of the violence, filling out compensation forms. On February 27, with the dust barely settling on the worst cycle of violence that the city had seen since 1984, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a compensation scheme — Rs 10 lakh to the kin of adults who fell prey to the riots and Rs 5 lakh to the families of minor victims.
However, a day later, the government revised its scale of relief for the riot-hit. Detailed advertisements, detailing the revised compensation package, were put out in major dailies on February 29. The government also launched a massive awareness campaign, with the focus clearly on allaying fears and reaching out to people spending anxious days.
However, there are issues hurting the process of ministering to the riot-hit and sanctioning relief. The government has divided the relief work into three stages — identification, assessment/verification and disbursement.
“The first two stages have been completed in most of the riot-affected areas. What remains is mostly paperwork, which is already underway. It is expected to be completed in the next 10 to 15 days. More and more people are visiting us, identifying properties and filling out compensation forms. Our first priority is to provide compensation to families which lost a member to the riots,” said a high ranking official, who is directly involved in the process of sanctioning and disbursing relief.
NGOs leading charge
The biggest hurdle to the relief process is duplication of forms. In a bid to prevent the same, the forms have been made available online and are being handed out physically by government staffers on the ground.“It’s normal for someone, who is left with no home, livelihood, and, in some cases, family, to fill out the compensation form twice. Hence, NGOs have set up relief camps and are going to every lane, handing out forms and bringing them back to us,” an official said.
As many as 43 NGOs are working in the Northeast district, as well as a few localities of Shahadra since normality was restored. They have split up into teams and are reaching the distressed in 12 riot-affected areas. In five most affected colonies, they are splitting up further to reach the last of the needy.
The primary objective is to win back the victims’ trust and convince them to give an accurate assessment of the material damage they have suffered. Helpdesks have been opened at community centres to guide victims on how to fill out compensation forms and help them produce papers needed for verification.
Daily meetings are held between senior government officials and NGO staffers to take stock of the relief work and area-wise reports are compiled and sent to the chief secretary and other senior officers, said an official who is part of a team headed by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. To speed up the process, the government has deputed 12 SDMs from 12 other districts for relief work. Officials of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and PWD engineers are visiting the riot-hit along with the SDMs. In several colonies, locals have claimed water and electricity to be in short supply. Hence, engineers have been deployed to restore normal services.
Damage assessment and relief
Rs 5 lakh to be given as compensation for total residential damage If a portion of a damaged house is rented out, the compensation would be provided on a 4:1 ratio
Rs 1 lakh to the tenant/s for damage to household items and Rs 4 lakh to the owner
Rs 2 lakh to be awarded as relief for substantial damage to houses
Rs 25,000 would be given for houses that have sustained minor damage