nA group of people in riot-hit North-east Delhi has come to the rescue of daily wagers, poor and destitutes of the areas by supplying cooked food and dry rations to them.
Residents of these areas have also joined hands in the distribution of food among stranded labourers and locals who are solely dependent on daily earnings to survive.
Virendra Kumar (40), a resident of Gali number 5 of Moonga Nagar which is located at Karawal Nagar road in North-east Delhi, said that he started distributing cooked food soon after the nationwide lockdown was announced in the wake of life-threatening coronavirus pandemic.
Kumar is one of the victims of communal riots witnessed in North-east Delhi in the last week of February. Recalling the ‘horror’ caused by communal clashes, Kumar said a “Muslim mob” of 200 people forcibly entered his building during riots and started pelting stones from my balcony. “How can I deny food to a hungry? Sometimes, there are children aged 5 to 10 year from a particular community standing in queue waiting for their turn. I am giving food to everyone who needed it at this time,” he said. “Feeding the poor and hungry is a noble cause. Thousands of people have benefitted with this initiative till now. It is a continuous process. We will keep reaching to those in need of food at this time,” he added.
Vijay Kashyap, a resident of gali number 20 in Shiv Vihar phase 7, suffered a huge financial loss during riots as a mob entered into his house and destroyed everything came in sight. “I first started helping widows and migrants labourer in the areas with food packet and milk with the help of Sewa Nyaya Utthan, a registered Non Governmental Organization (NGO). We have widened and reaching out to more people to help them to tide over the crisis,” he said.
“We all were very frightened as my father was not at home when the riots had started, my little sister got scared and started crying. It was all very difficult to forget what happened when us but now even my father and family members are helping me in distributing food even for Muslim families living around the area,’ he said.
Vandana Gupta, an ASHA worker has been distributing food items to identified families in gali number 14 of Shiv Vihar.
“I always ensure that food should be distributed to needy one. I survey the area door to door and distribute it only after then. There are many daily-wagers in the areas whose livelihood is lost due to lockdown as well as those who lost their means of earning in the riots. We are providing relief to everyone,” she said. .