Life limping back to normalcy in Trilokpuri

Two days after tension gripped East Delhi’s Trilokpuri area post a clash between two communities, shopkeepers and residents of Block 29 and 32 shared how a minor scuffle, like the one which took place on Saturday, leaves their day-to-day life disrupted. 

Although shops opened amid heavy police deployment near the Madina Masjid Chowk on Monday, where the clash took place, residents rued that every minor scuffle is given a communal colour post the infamous riots in Trilokpuri in 2014.

“It hardly takes any time for normalcy to return here. It is the miscreants like those two gamblers, involved in the Saturday clash who spoil the environment of the entire locality,” said Riyasat Ali, a resident.

He added: “The clash took place near the Madina Masjid Chowk, located between Blocks 29 and 32, in Trilokpuri. Around 9pm, two gamblers, playing in a nearby MCD school, created a ruckus after one of them lost the bet. The one, who lost the bet, called his friends to the area and attacked the youth, a resident of Block 29. Within half-an-hour, the supporters of the other youth also gathered in the area and both the groups started pelting stones at each other.”

Ali, 60, who owns a flour shop in the area shared how due to stone pelting, two CCTV 

cameras installed near his shop were damaged. 

“Six CCTV cameras were broken in the stone pelting. Fortunately, our shop was closed, else my goods too would have been damaged,” he said.

Azharuddin Saifi, a member of the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Isaai Committee or Aman Committee, said incidents like that which happened on Saturday, always kept them on their toes. 

“It is the festive season. Post the 2014 riots, we have been holding sessions with youngsters. Although we keep the local police informed about the activities, these incidents disrupt our lives,” he said.

Ali, who has been living in Trilokpuri before the partition in 1947, said, “I have been living here for the longest time. Post the 2014 riots, our lives have changed for the worse.”

Md Khamir, another resident, shared similar sentiments. “People now refrain from buying homes here, which has lead to a steep fall in the rates. The problem has stooped to a new low as it is very difficult to get an autorichshaw here,” he said.

“We want the authorities concerned to look into security at Trilokpuri. Although there is heavy police presence and volunteers of Aman Committee, minor scuffles disrupt our daily lives,” said Ali.