Two nights and a day of communal violence and tension in Trilokpuri in east Delhi have left municipal services in colonies adjoining it in total disarray even as residents of the riot-hit Trilokpuri remain confined to their homes unable to move out because of prohibitory orders, with police and RAF personnel taking over the brick-strewn streets.
Garbage has not been cleared from homes and streets of residential areas bordering Trilokpuri as a substantial number of the population of Trilokpuri are engaged as sweepers and sanitation workers by the municipal corporation of Delhi and they either trapped or engaged in fanning tension. Also, most domestic help working in the middle class homes of several residential communities in the neighborhood are women from Trilokpuri.
Ganga, a domestic help, called her employer, J Sacchar, on Saturday and Sunday to inform him that she would not be coming as it was near impossible to move out of home. Shops have remained closed in Trilokpuri since the night of Diwali on Friday. The police had to move in after two groups of people started fighting and a riot-like situation soon gripped Block 27 and Block 15 of Trilokpuri which have always been a communal tinderbox.
The violence so far has sent 16 people to hospital. Special commissioner (law & order) Deepak Mishra said eight of them sustained bullet injuries. Five of those injured are policemen. On Sunday, RAF and CRPF jawans were patrolling the blocks, with police cordoning off Muslim-dominated localities giving the impression of a siege.
Many residents have fled the area, and there is a general shortage of vegetables and other groceries. Property worth crores have been lost to vandalism and arson. The brickbat-strewn streets look like there was a war on. "We cannot move out. The RAF and police are patrolling the streets. Shops remain closed. Most groceries were in the Muslim localities and it is difficult," Pradeep, who works with a TV news channel, said over the phone.
As always in such situations the worst hit are children and women. Nobody is sure as to how and what started the flare-up, and the police too do not want to hazard a guess. In fact, for a night and a day after violence broke, the media was nowhere to be seen though some people from other districts such as south Delhi, which is across the Yamuna, did take to facebook and twitter to give their preferred colours to the flare-up.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}