NEW DELHI: It’s a month since Jahangirpuri saw a tense day when communal passions threatened to spiral out of control. While the barricading and the presence of police and paramilitary personnel still remind of the violence that rocked the area on April 16, many other facets of life are back to normal. Movement of goods and services have mostly resumed and some of the structures demolished by North Delhi Municipal Corporation have been restored.
As a sign that things were returning to normal, Dilip Saxena reopened his juice shop a few days ago. A bulldozer had razed his shop at the Kushal Cinema intersection soon after the communal violence for allegedly encroaching on public land. “The corporation illegally demolished some structures and is now admitting they were wrong. But that won’t compensate me for the loss I suffered,” said Saxena. “Because of the sheer need to survive, I mustered whatever little I could and reopened my shop. But there are fewer people on this road now and business will take a while to pick up.”
