THE CPI(M) Delhi along with CITU, JMS and DYFI is reaching out to workers and families affected by the abrupt lockdown. This includes the area of north east Delhi which had suffered due to communal violence. Volunteers are conducting relief work by strictly following the regime set by the government with curfew passes. The distribution of rations to most of those displaced families whose houses were majorly damaged and were living in the Idgah camp until the lockdown, was carried out by the relief committee during this period.

The Al Hind hospital in Mustafabad which turned out to be the only refuge for the riot affected during those dreadful days were to be supplied with the first batch of generic medicines by the relief committee shortly. Al Hind catered to almost 400 injured people during the violence ensuring that they remained stable till they could be shifted to a bigger hospital. The first floor of the hospital which was made into a makeshift emergency during those days was later worked as a relief camp for locals who were attacked. The procurement of the second batch of medicines although got affected due to the nationwide lockdown will also be done soon.  

The work relating to the roll out of educational scholarships to the children of the families who lost their earning member and those debilitated by the riots have started. The scholarship forms of the children were filled by the volunteers by contacting their families. The amount and further details of the scholarship would be decided shortly. The rehri’s made for those affected from Khajoori Khas, Karawal Nagar, Kardampuri and Gokulpuri couldn’t be distributed because of the lockdown. 

The post lockdown scenario elsewhere in Delhi is such that workers are in need of dry rations to feed themselves after the employers and petty contractors have shrugged off their responsibilities despite pious directives from the central as well as state governments. The task of supplementing the Delhi government’s efforts in distributing rations or at least to work as a stop-gap until then, is been taken up currently by the mass organisations. The relief committee could serve dry rations to more than 1500 families in Krishna Nagar, Vishwas Nagar, Gandhi Nagar (all East Delhi), Badli (outer Delhi), Chandni Chowk, Darya Ganj, Paharganj (all Central Delhi), Shahpur Jat (South Delhi), Okhla (South East) from March 28 to April 1. Besides this, serving cooked food has reached more than 2000 families. The effort to scale up the relief by ensuring curfew passes for all our volunteers is on.