Apart from the nationwide lockdown which rendered him out of work, Mohammad Ashraf Hussain, a tea stall owner near Nizamuddin, said that procuring food for the family to break their fast during the holy month of Ramzan had proved to be particularly difficult.
For several others like Mr. Hussain, the cooked meals provided by the State government and distributed at fixed timings meant that they were on their own for iftaar and sehri .
“Before the Ramzan began, we were going to a nearby school and getting cooked meals. But now the weather has also changed and it is so hot that we cannot even save the food for later. So we are managing somehow by borrowing some ration from the locals so that we can at least break our fast. At times, the police personnel deployed in the area also come forward to give us some food from their share,” said 30-year-old Sonia Khatoon.
Despite government directives, several ration shops were still not distributing ration to those without ration cards, many complained.
“While we do not have ration cards. We do have Aadhaar cards which we showed to those who were distributing ration. But they asked us to go away and refused to give us any ration. We are not being able to store the cooked meal for later and neither can we make something for ourselves. What do the poor like us do in such a situation?,” said Ms. Khatoon, who along with 20 others, have been surviving without a roof above their head.
Complaining about erratic food supply, several others from the riot-affected areas said that they had been unable to obtain the free ration promised by the government which was forcing them to buy raw material from local shops, despite being cash-strapped.
Imran Ansari (21), a resident of Shiv Vihar, one of the most affected areas in the riots which took place here in February, said that this year’s Ramzan was unlike other times as the family’s struggle continued.
“We have not received any ration from the government. We had visited a couple of times but every time had to return empty-handed. We have been facing such struggle since the riots. I lost my father three days back and now our source of livelihood is also gone. I have been buying stuff from local shops on credit so that we can have at least a basic iftaar ,” said Mr. Ansari.
Shoaib, a resident of Ashok Nagar, where a mosque was vandalised during the riots, said: “Till now, we have only received the initial compensation from the government. Our shop and house were both looted and burnt. By the time we could think of standing on our feet again, the lockdown started. So we shifted to a relative’s place. Here we are sharing resources and observing roza . With limited cooked meals being provided, it’s difficult to support large families. So we can only depend on each other somehow for Ramzan this year.”
