Two shelter homes gutted in Kashmere Gate clashes

A day after a group of homeless people pelted stones at civil defence volunteers during food distribution and three of them allegedly jumping into the Yamuna to escape the resultant police action, at least 200 residents of the same shelter clashed with the police and set two porta cabin shelters on fire after a body was recovered from the river on Saturday, police officers said.

A senior police officer, privy to the case details, said three shelter residents had jumped into the river after police had to resort to mild lathicharge to disperse the agitated shelter inmates on Friday. After a body was recovered on Saturday, the residents claimed that it is one of the same persons who had jumped into the river on Friday. Two others had been rescued on Friday itself.

Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg said five fire tenders were used to douse the blaze that gutted two shelters that accommodated 130 and 40 people respectively. “No casualty was reported in the fire that broke out around 6pm and was brought into control within half an hour,” Garg said.

A case of rioting, obstructing public servant from doing duty, and arson was registered and six homeless persons were detained till late evening, said joint commissioner of police (central) Suvashis Choudhary.

The joint CP said that a decomposed body was recovered from the Yamuna on Saturday evening. While the body was being taken out, the shelter residents claimed that the body was of the same man whose body could not be fished out from the river on Friday. The other two men were rescued by the local divers on Friday itself, the officer said.

Around 5 pm, Choudhary said, the police control room received information about the body. Police were also told that around 150-200 homeless people had gathered outside the Tibetan market near the Kashmere Gate Interstate Bus Terminal. The crowd was agitated and soon began pelting stones on some civil defence volunteers and the police personnel present there.

The incident was flashed on the wireless sets and soon the north district DCP, Monika Bhardwaj, along with other officers reached there with additional force. As the crowd had turned violent, the police personnel used mild force to chase them away. The agitators fled towards Yamuna Khadar.

“Some of them went towards the shelter homes and set two of the shelters on fire. Luckily, nobody was inside the shelters when they were set ablaze. Nobody was hurt in the fire incident. We have registered a case and are trying to identify the persons who were involved in arson,” added the joint CP.

A police officer who did not want to be named said that on Friday some civil defence volunteers and police personnel were deployed near the shelter homes to ensure that the residents maintained social distancing and discipline during food distribution. An altercation broke out between the homeless people and the volunteers when the residents were asked to main distance. Following the altercation, the homeless people started pelting stones on the volunteers.

“The volunteers and police personnel used mild force to disperse the crowd and control the situation. During the lathicharge, three homeless men plunged into the river. Two of them were rescued while the third man could not be found,” the officer said, adding that the issue was resolved after senior police officers intervened.

On Saturday, the agitation resumed after a body was found in the river and people claimed that it was of the same man who went missing on Friday. “We will write to the Delhi administration to relocate the homeless people living in Kashmere Gate area. Around 3,000 homeless are staying beyond capacity in such shelters. It becomes difficult to discipline them or make them maintain the social distancing to avoid the spread of Covid-19,” said Choudhary.

Maximum number of Delhi’s homeless live in the shelters near Kashmere Gate. Several migrants who were left jobless after their factories shut because of the nation-wide lockdown have also shifted to the shelters in Kashmere Gate.

Bipin Rai, member, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), also confirmed that two shelters have been destroyed.

At least 6,000 people from 12 shelter homes and those from surrounding slum clusters and adjoining areas were fed in the area by DUSIB daily.

“We will order an internal inquiry. So far we have got to know that there was some conflict among vagabonds over a rumour of a body being found in the Yamuna, who they believed was one of them. They got agitated and set the shelters on fire. There were no inmates inside and there are no casualties reported,” said Rai.

District magistrate (Central) Nidhi Srivastava, said, “As per a preliminary report there was a conflict among some vagabonds in the area, which led to the incident.”