Residents of Kotla Ferozeshah trapped under High Security Alert
Over 350 families living in Vikram Nagar and Valmiki Colony were asked to produce ID cards. Those who didn’t carry any had to call their family members to establish their identity. Vehicle owners had to sport special stickers on their vehicles to access and exit the parking lots.
Bansi Lal, a 67-year-old trader from Kotla Ferozeshah, could not remember any similar instance of such high security ever since the colony came into being in 1948. “The main road passes through JP Park and is being sanitized. We have been forced to take the smaller road opening to the press enclave area. The road is too narrow for two cars to pass at a time,” said Lal.
The worst sufferers were perhaps the children, for whom every Independence Day means flying kites from rooftops, the JP Park and the Shahidi Park – both of which were out of bounds for them this time. “It is not only the rains; the celebratory mood was sorely missed this year,” said Ravinder Rai, a banker.
The 3,500-odd residents of Kotla Ferozeshah area have suddenly found themselves in the midst of a gathering storm. Their locality has been turned into a paramilitary bastion, which is out of bounds even for them. “You must understand that the residential area next to the park is restricted. There are certain security concerns about the protest and it is only natural that law and order would be our prime concern. The residents are not inconvenienced by our efforts and are helping us,” said DCP (central) Vivek Kishore.
Y S Bhatia, a businessman, and Air India employee Narender Malhotra aired their own concerns. “We wonder if tomorrow, when school reopens , our children, too, will be frisked or if they could safely use the JP Park approach road,” said Malhotra. “We have had some of the best cricket matches here; but there was never the need to impose so many strictures on the residents,” said the area beat constable.
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