Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, APRIL 16— The ruling Aam Aadmi Party MLA of Nizamuddin area, Praveen Kumar told India Tomorrow Thursday morning that the situation is normal in the area as passes have been issued to grocery shops and kirana stores and local residents are purchasing things from there. He also said that ration-card holders have also been provided grain supply of this month. He, however, admitted that the locals faced problems in early days of the sealing as all shops were shut down there.

Last week, the Nizamuddin Basti, which houses Tablighi Jamaat headquarters, known as Markaz, was sealed days after hundreds of participants of a religious congregation there were found to be infected with Coronavirus.

“As the entire area was sealed, some problems occurred in streamlining the things in the initial days of the sealing. Now all things have been sorted out. During the lockdown, kirana stores and grocery shops were open and people were buying things from there. There was not much problem. But after the Nizamuddin Markaz incident, the entire area of Nizamuddin Basti was sealed at the orders of the District Magistrate and CRPF personnel were deployed there. All shops were shut down and people were asked to strictly remain indoors,” the MLA told India Tomorrow.

He admitted that people faced problems in early days as passes could not have been issued instantly.

“Soon after the sealing, passes could not be issued instantly as it takes at least one-two days in preparing documents and doing all formalities. In those early days, people had to face some problems. Shopkeepers were not able to open shops and people were unable to purchase things,” said Kumar, MLA of Jangpura constituency wherein falls Nizamuddin Basti.

Earlier this week, local residents and social activists had told India Tomorrow about the problems being faced by them. They had also said that ration-card holders could not get ration as the area was sealed and their ration shops were about 2-3 kilometers away from the Basti.

Praveen Kumar, MLA, Jangpura

The MLA said: “Residents told me about these issues. I contacted the officials and got passes issued for shops in Nizamuddin Basti and Nizamuddin West. Passes were issued to them on April 12.”

Regarding the ration, he said: “The ration-card holders whose ration shops were in Bhogal or Sarai Kale Khan areas were not able to reach those stores due to the sealing and closure of all exit/entry points of Nizamuddin Basti. In Nizamuddin West also, people faced problems as only one grocery/kirana shop in the locality had the pass.”

“To resolve the problems of ration-card holders, I talked to Food & Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain. There were around 200 card holders who could not take their ration for this month. I arranged a truckload of grains from government and sent it to Nizamuddin Basti and ration-card holders were called to the truck and they got their supply,” said the MLA Praveen Kumar.

He also said that cooked food is also being supplied at a local MCD school. When asked if the food is not being supplied in sufficient quantity given the number of needy persons, the MLA said: “No one told me that cooked food supplied from a local MCD school near Nizamuddin Basti was insufficient and many people were not getting food. I myself visited the spot and talked to the beneficiaries. They said they are regularly getting food. I also asked those who were distributing government food if some people are not getting food, but they said food supply is sufficient.”

Since the lockdown was imposed on March 24, some social activists have been providing cooked food packets to around 800 poor families at their doorsteps. But as they had not got passes, cops deployed there after the sealing allegedly beat up some of the volunteers.

Regarding the incident, the MLA said: “That incident happened when passes were not issued to anyone in the area. Now the government has provided both food and ration, so there is no such problem. The government has provided food in sufficient quantity.”

He also informed that after the sealing, medical survey was conducted in Nizamuddin area to find out Coronavirus symptomatic persons but luckily, except a beggar no case was found.

“After the Markaz episode, door-to-door medical survey was conducted in Nizamuddin Basti and Nizamuddin West. Around 1,700 houses in Nizamuddin Basti and 205 houses in Nizamuddin West were surveyed to check symptomatic persons. Just one beggar was found to be Coronavirus +ve. He was admitted to the hospital and treated. No other person in around 1900 houses was found infected or even symptomatic,” said the AAP party MLA.  

He said that machine-driven sanitization work will also be done in Nizamudidn area today.

“We are going to conduct sanitization work through Japanese machine in Nizamuddin areas including Nizamuddin Basti. Today, Nizamuddin East and Nizamuddin West will be sanitized. I will supervise the work,” said Kumar.