NEW DELHI: The Jahangirpuri residents offered Friday prayers at the violence-hit C-block mosque amid heavy security, with police saying the locality will remain barricaded for a few more days to maintain law and order.
While some normalcy is returning, businessmen and shop owners in the area have not been able to work and earn for the last one week. Purushottam Kumar, a mobile shop owner, said, every other day something keeps happening which stops us from working. First, it was because of Covid-19 and now it is the riots.
“I have been living here for the last 30 years and the Hindus and Muslims have lived peacefully. The clashes were fuelled by outside elements. Now with everything shut, we have not been able to resume our work,” he said.
Kumar said that the area never had a problem and if the police remove the barricades, the residents will resume their work just like before. He said that on average he earns Rs 400-500 but with the shop being shut, he has not been able to earn any money. Shakeel Ahmad, an autorickshaw driver, has not been able to earn enough money for the last one week due to the locality being cordoned off post the riots.
“I run an auto-rickshaw but because of the clashes, we have been sitting idle. Our auto stand was right in front of the Kushal Chow which has now been barricaded by the police. I used to earn 600 in a day but now earning has gone to half,” he said. The C-Block of Jahangirpuri which was the epicentre of communal clashes is the home to people belonging to lower-income groups. The residents work either at factories or have small businesses such as scrap dealing, mechanic shops, vegetable stalls and general stores.
Some said that their businesses were also hit by the anti-encroachment drive conducted by the Municipal Corporation (North) on Wednesday as the agency’s bulldozers tore down some makeshift and concrete structure. The local DCP conducted a meeting where 15 Muslim representatives and 15 Hindu representatives were invited and it was decided that on Sunday a tiranga yatra will be carried out in the area to stabilise the situation.
CPI, SP, TMC leaders not allowed to meet residents
On Friday, leaders of the Communist Party of India and Samajwadi Party visited the violence-hit area to meet the local residents, but were stopped by police. The five-member delegation of the CPI sat on a dharna near the barricades at Kushal Chowk in Jahangirpuri after being stopped. Later, a TMC team was stopped from visiting the violence-hit area.