Hundreds of daily wage labourers are being worst hit as the situation remained tense in central Delhi’s Hauz Qazi till Tuesday evening.
‘Not a penny earned’
Some of the shops in the area remained shut for the third day in a row. Dev Kumar (43) from Bihar, who resides near the railway line in central Delhi, said he has not earned a penny in the last three days.
“We transport goods from the market to places like Kamla Market, Naya Bazar, Khanna Market, Mori Gate and nearby areas. But the police have blocked the road and we are not allowed to ply our carts or rickshaws for work,” he said.
Monu Kumar (19) said the labourers get ₹10 for bringing the goods from the first floor to ground floor and ₹20 for transporting from the shop to the end of the street.
For longer distances, they get money depending on the number of articles to be transported, he added.
The police on Tuesday asked shopkeepers to open their units and resume business but kept the road blocked for safety reasons.
“We are asking people to open their shops so normalcy can be restored. Some have opened. We have barricaded the entrance to make sure no anti-social elements enter,” said an officer on duty.
The labourers said their work does not divide but instead unite them. “We are labourers and members of both the communities have been working together for decades. We don’t care about what is happening,” said Adnan.
