New Delhi: Some signs of normalcy returned to riot-hit areas of northeast Delhi on Saturday as people stepped out of their homes to buy groceries and medicines from a few shops that opened amid intensified patrolling by security personnel.
Since early morning, civic workers were seen clearing roads of bricks, glass shards and burnt vehicles in the aftermath of the violence that left 42 dead and over 200 injured.
At some places, even bulldozers were used as it became difficult to manually remove debris. In Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Yamuna Vihar, Chand Bagh, Mustafabad and Bhajanpura, which were among the areas worst hit by the communal violence, there were more vehicles and people on the roads than in the last five days.
Personnel from the Delhi Police and paramilitary forces encouraged people to open their shops and appealed for peace and communal harmony. They started their march at Jaffrabad and moved through Maujpur and then into the narrow lanes of Noor-e-Ilahi, Yamuna Vihar and Bhajanpura, areas where mobs ran riot vandalising shops, houses and torching vehicles early this week. Schools in northeast Delhi still remain closed.
“It is only the smaller shops that have opened today. The bigger shops and showrooms have still not opened and their owners are being cautious,” a showroom owner, whose property was attacked during the riots, told PTI.
Shakib, a resident of Noor-e-Ilahi, said people selling vegetables on carts made rounds of colonies.
“Not many, only a couple of them could be seen. The rates are still a little high than the usual, but at least they have resumed sale,” he said. (PTI)
