Corona: Eidgah Camp Cleared, Delhi Violence Victims Homeless Again

Displaced Delhi violence victims, who took shelter at the Eidgah camp, were asked to leave due to coronavirus fears.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Camera: Ghazanfar Abbas

Ghulam Mohammed had once served in the CRPF, but now is left without a home, again. He was first displaced when rioters broke into his rented house in Shiv Vihar and looted his money during northeast Delhi violence in February. He had then moved to the Mustafabad Eidgah relief camp, set up by the Delhi Waqf Board, with his family.

But now, due to the coronavirus outbreak and the nationwide lockdown, he has been displaced again as the authorities cleared out the entire camp on 25 March, a month since the violence.

“Somehow, we saved our lives and took shelter here. Now they are telling us to leave the camp. But where do we go from here?”

Ghulam Mohammed

With their homes ruined and money looted, these victims stare at an uncertain future as some of them don’t even have enough funds to take up a shelter on rent.

Another victim displaced from Shiv Vihar, Shan Mohammed, says, “If I find a home, great, but if I don't get anything, I will have to find shelter on the road. They will not keep us here anymore.”

Similar fears were echoed by Rukhsana, who had had to flee Shiv Vihar with her children during the violence.

“How do we go back home? My house is completely ruined. I had saved money to repair my house. How do we stay there? The gates of my house were also broken by the rioters,” she said.

AAP MLA from Mustafabad, Haji Yunus told The Quint that the entire camp has now been cleared and the victims were “put up in a rented accommodation nearby and given one month of ration.” Yunus also said that the victims who have still not received compensation from the government were handed Rs 3,000 to take up a shelter.

A group of volunteers of Delhi Relief Collective and Hamaari Sada Trust also lent monetary help to the stranded victims so that they can immediately move out.

At least 52 people had lost their lives and hundreds were left homeless in the two-day violence that unfolded in northeast Delhi.