Connaught Place, termed as the ‘heart of the city’ is under the siege from addicts and junkies who could be seen loitering around freely in this part of the national Capital. Subways, parking lots, dark alleys and religious structures, they can be seen consuming drugs with impunity.
They have become nuisance for tourists and visitors coming to shopping centres, including traders as well. They snatch valuables, steal mobiles and attack their targets if they resists. They visibly rule over the dark patches of the region. The gang-rape of the Danish national is an example of vulnerability of common people in areas where these elements rule the roost.
Despite the claims of rounding up of those miscreants from the area, scores of vagabonds including minor children were seen roaming and having drugs in the vicinity. The Pioneer on Thursday conducted a recce of the vulnerable areas and interacted with a few of them who live without fear of the law enforcing agencies. The vagabonds claimed that they all work in gangs and minor thefts are enough to fulfil their daily needs.
Especially at places of worship like the Hanuman Mandir it was surprising to see that visitors who had donated blankets to the vagabonds were the same ones being sold by them later. “My gang members stood in the line and we all collected six blankets and later sold them off at `200. This is enough to purchase our daily fix of glue and cough syrup,” said a juvenile fly-by-night at the temple.
What was more shocking to see was that the youths were sniffing openly. All of them had handkerchief, socks and mufflers on which they had poured it. Most of them had more than two mobile phones each which they either sell off or use without the SIM card to listen to music.
“The mobile phones are ours and they come to us when others are humming prayers. We don’t do anything. Even if people ask us directions within minutes they won’t even come to know what valuables have been robbed from them. It’s a talent that we have,” said Shanky, a vagabond who hails from Odisha and is staying at the Hanuman Mandir from the last three months.
With tattoos on their body and dreams of a lavish lifestyle, they claim to go to any extent to fulfil them. All of them accepted that they sniffed glue, weed and hash.