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Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
A ‘Nasbandi Colony' and a ‘Mata Indira Sanjay Act': 50 yrs later, ghosts are vivid at Turkman Gate
Along the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, adjoining Loni, lies 'Nasbandi Colony'. The name has stuck, 50 years on after the Emergency's sterilisation and resettlement drives uprooted residents of Turkman Gate, located in the Capital's heart, and dispatched many of them here, to its fringes. There are other things that remain the same in this colony, since it got the first of its Turkman Gate evacuees in the Eighties. Open drains line bumpy, pothole-marked roads, where two-wheelers weave their way through cattle. The smell of open garbage is pervasive. Residents say the government gave land, but no livelihood or shot at a new life – not even a school. Around 16 km away, at Turkman Gate, located in Delhi's Walled City, other families whose houses were razed during the Emergency now live in DDA flats they got as compensation. The flats, built 48 years ago, are in need of repair, while the cramped lanes sport endless electrical repair shops. As many here make a living as scrap dealers, used air-conditioners and coolers crowd public spaces. As per the Shah Commission that went into the Emergency excesses, six people were killed when police opened fire in the Turkman Gate area on April 19, 1976, on protesters, days into a demolition drive. Over 1.5 lakh structures were pulled down across Delhi during the Emergency, but Turkman Gate remains the most vivid example of the drive. While the protests at Turkman Gate on April 19, 1976, were over the demolitions, anger was also bubbling over sterilisations. On April 15, a sterilisation camp had been inaugurated at nearby Dujana House by Sanjay Gandhi and then Lieutenant Governor Krishan Chand. Overall, as per the Shah Commission, over 1.1 crore sterilisations were carried out between 1975 and 1977, against the government's target of 65 lakh, and over 1,774 died during the sterilisation procedures. Amid the steady clatter of machines turning out envelopes at a small factory near the same Dujana House, Zakir Ahmed, 69, sits quietly at his dispensary unit. He first started working at the age of 7 at a wedding card workshop, which still exists across the road, and was not yet a teen when the sterilisation teams arrived. 'They targeted outsiders – labourers, beggars, construction workers… those just walking by,' Ahmed says. Officials offered inducements to meet their sterilisation targets – sometimes money, often a 4-litre tin of Dalda (refined oil), rarely a transistor. Ahmed remembers one incident in particular. On April 18, 1976, as a van carrying men and boys for sterilisation crossed the neighbourhood, a woman snuck up and opened the back door. 'Unko azad kara diya nasbandi se pehle (She freed them from sterilisation).' Ahmed adds: 'Nobody could be saved from nasbandi in those days. Those who said anything would be jailed under the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act).' The very next day, April 19, came the bulldozers. 'Those months were very difficult,' Ahmed says. 'People were terrified… Families… Hindu, Muslim… all would beg their loved ones not to travel after dark, offer each other shelter. Every time one left home, one was scared.' To ward off action, 'many put up photographs of Indira Gandhi at their shops'. Such was the contempt for the PM and her son, says Muhammed Shahid Gangohi, one of the founding members of the Turkman Gate Welfare and Coordination Committee, that 'people referred to the MISA Act as Mata Indira Sanjay Act'. If there is another name that invites similar derision, it is Rukhsana Sultana, a socialite and boutique owner who had risen quickly within the Congress in Delhi due to her proximity to Sanjay. Safi Dehlvi, 75, a former Congress leader, says Sultana took the lead in implementing Sanjay's sterilisation targets in the Walled City, as the one overseeing the camp at Dujana House. 'In April 1976, Sanjay came here and received a hostile reception… He looked around and said he saw a 'mini-Pakistan'. Within a few days, bulldozers were at Turkman Gate's doors.' The afternoon of April 19, Gangohi recalls, he was on his way for his BA first-year exams at Zakir Husain College. 'Around 4.30 pm, there was an announcement that students from our area should meet the Principal. We sensed something had happened… We were told that at 1.45 pm, police and military had come, there was a lathicharge as well as police firing. Around 500 people were arrested… beaten so brutally that it was equivalent to being killed.' Gangohi's family house shared a boundary wall with a mosque; they thought that gave them some immunity. 'But it was also demolished.' Most of the displaced were sent to Trilokpuri initially, while a few were moved to Nand Nagri, Ranjit Nagar and Shahdara. Gangohi says that the two appeals the displaced made were that 'families not be split' and that they get 'built-up area' as compensation. 'But the accommodations at Trilokpuri and Nand Nagri were completely barren… with no roads. It was a jungle.' Mohd Rizwan, 75, points to a spot along Asif Ali Road near Turkman Gate: 'This is where Sanjay Gandhi addressed the public, telling them the benefits of the sterilisation programme… After four-five days, the demolitions started.' One of his relatives, Abdul Malik, 23, was among those killed, Rizwan says. Another old-time resident of Turkman Gate, who was in school then and is now a senior government official, says on the condition of anonymity: 'Teachers would pressure us (on the issue). Near Chandni Chowk Market, we would run into Youth Congress volunteers raising slogans of 'Hum do, hamare do (Us two, ours two).' Government employees were afraid their promotions would be stalled if they put up resistance, he says. Historian Sohail Hashmi, who was himself a witness to Emergency crackdowns as a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, talks about the experience of his mother, the headmistress of a government school in Kidwai Nagar. 'Teachers were expected to present two sterilisation certificates every month… It were the poor, the rickshaw-pullers, the drug addicts, who bore the brunt of this policy.' Santosh Gupta, who was among the first settlers at the 'Nasbandi Colony' and continues to live there, says his mother Sashi Bala was among those who volunteered for sterilisation. His father, who earned a living as a tailor, his brother and he never discussed the subject, Gupta says. 'I was too young to ask, and she never told us anything.' He wonders though if it was for land. In exchange for undergoing the procedure, Bala received a 90 sq yard plot in 'Nasbandi Colony'. In 1985, the family moved there. In 1998, Gupta opened a small shop on the plot, and lives in an adjoining house with his wife and four children. Bala and her husband are now deceased, as is Gupta's elder brother. He is now thinking of moving, perhaps to Karawal Nagar, which offers at least better amenities as well as connectivity, Gupta says. His 'Nasbandi Colony' plot could fetch Rs 55 lakh, he says. But could the ghosts of Emergency end with that? Ahmed, who has lived his lifetime in the shadows of it, still recalls the lifting of the provision, and their anticipation of a new start. 'The streets erupted in celebration, Delhi felt as joyous as Eid or Diwali. Outside the Tiz Hazari court, there were such long queues that shops ran out of liquor,' he says, before he breaks into a cough that has become chronic, a reminder of decades spent inhaling paper dust.
Hans India
12-06-2025
- Hans India
Use of adulterated ghee for preparation raises concerns
Rajamahendravaram: The famed Pootharekulu of Atreyapuram, renowned across the country for their unique taste and delicate preparation, has landed in controversy after authorities discovered the use of substandard ghee in some local sweet shops. The revelations have stirred widespread concern among consumers and locals alike. According to officials, several vendors have been found using low-quality or adulterated ghee in an attempt to cut costs and boost profits. Recent inspections revealed that ghee samples collected from certain shops failed quality tests, raising alarms about food safety and consumer health. On May 22, locals informed authorities after spotting suspicious activity involving the offloading of ghee from an auto-rickshaw at a dry fruits warehouse. Upon inspection, two sacks containing 66 kg of unbranded ghee were seized. An additional 35 kg of ghee was discovered at a related shop and warehouse. Revenue and police officials immediately alerted the District Food Control Department. District Food Control Officer P Srikanth stated that samples were sent to the Nacharam Food Laboratory in Hyderabad. The lab results received three days ago confirmed one sample as spoiled and unfit for consumption and the other as substandard. Following confirmation of adulteration, authorities issued notices to the shop owner and announced plans to register criminal cases. Officials added that during an earlier raid on February 17, 150 kg of unbranded, unlabelled ghee in loose packing was seized from a raw material supplier. Lab analysis of three samples from that batch revealed adulteration with Dalda (vanaspati) and palm oil. Authorities have now issued warnings to local traders that legal action will be taken against those selling unlicensed products, using unbranded ghee, or failing to provide packaging with manufacturing dates. The crackdown is part of a broader initiative to ensure food safety and protect the legacy of Atreyapuram's iconic sweet. Consumers have expressed dismay over the findings, urging for maintenance of high standards traditionally associated with Atreyapuram Pootharekulu.
Business Recorder
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Weekly SPI inflation down 1.92pc
ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index-based inflation for the week ended April 24, 2025, decreased by 1.92 per cent due to a decrease in the prices of electricity charges for Q1 (19.17per cent), chicken (11.75 per cent), wheat flour (5.68 per cent) and LPG (1.09 per cent), says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The year-on-year (YoY) trend depicts a decrease of 3.52per cent due to a decrease in the prices of onions (69.78per cent), tomatoes (40.77per cent), garlic (31.96per cent), wheat flour (30.70per cent), electricity charges for q1 (29.40per cent), tea Lipton (16.98per cent), potatoes (16.93per cent), chilies powder(15.69per cent), maash (15.62per cent), petrol (13.24per cent) and diesel (10.85per cent), while major increase is observed in the prices of ladies sandal (55.62per cent), moong (26.85per cent), powdered milk (23.11per cent), pulse gram (21.08per cent), beef(18.64per cent), sugar (16.14per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (15.45per cent), vegetable ghee 1 kg (14.50per cent), cooked daal(12.77per cent), firewood (10.49per cent), lawn printed (10.33per cent) and Georgette (9.90per cent). During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 11 (21.57per cent) items increased, 18 (35.29per cent) items decreased and22 (43.14per cent) items remained stable. Weekly SPI decreases 0.69pc The SPI for the week under review recorded at 308.86 points against 314.92points during the same period of previous week. The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs17,732, Rs17,732-Rs22,888, Rs22,889-Rs29,517, Rs29,518-Rs44,175 and above Rs44,175 decreased by 1.81per cent, 2.33per cent, 1.81per cent, 1.64per cent and 1.59 per cent, respectively. The items prices of which increased during the period under review include, potatoes (6.94per cent), toilet soap Lifebuoy (0.90per cent), eggs (0.66per cent), cigarettes Capstan 20's packet each (0.51per cent), salt powdered (0.51per cent), gur (0.37per cent), curd (0.18per cent), masoor (0.09per cent), long cloth 57' Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(0.08per cent), pulse gram (0.07per cent) and lawn printed Gul Ahmed/al Karam(0.06per cent). The items prices of which decreased during the period under review include electricity charges for q1 per unit (19.17per cent), chicken (11.75per cent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (5.68per cent), garlic (4.66 per cent), bananas (3.51per cent), onions (1.93per cent), rice irri-6/9 (1.58per cent), mustard oil (1.10 per cent), LPG (1.09per cent), tomatoes (0.76per cent), bread plain (0.55per cent), sugar (0.26per cent), maash (0.25per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib2.5 kg tin each (0.15per cent), cooking oil Dalda or other similar brand (sn), 5 litre tin each (0.14per cent), moong (0.12per cent), rice basmati broken (0.10per cent) and vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1kg pouch each (0.10per cent). Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
