NEW DELHI, JANUARY 19: In Welcome Colony, Babu Buniyadi Chowk divides the two communities. Across this divide on either side, in the narrow dusty lanes, each blames the other every time there are clashes.And these clashes ``are an annual affair,'' say residents. Reasons: cricket matches (like today), property disputes and even love affairs. More importantly local ruffians take over at the slightest hint of trouble. And reportedly the local politicians don't help much.``The centre of all trouble is the tonga stand that side,'' claims Suresh Chand, one of the oldest residents in the area, pointing towards the MCD school next to it. ``You will find all kinds of bad elements there.'' The residents of `that side', like Mohammed Salim, point out that members of one community are always targeted in the name of the tonga stand. ``Even last year when a man was murdered somewhere else the police came looking for the culprits here.''The Welcome Colony police, nevertheless, say that the tonga stand is the adda of pickpockets, petty thieves and ruffians. ``It is natural that we start looking here, every time there is trouble,'' says Kishen Pal, additional SHO at the police station.To underline his claim, he points out that Chanda, leader of one of the groups in today's clashes was picked up from near the tonga stand. And his opponent, Bittu, who went missing after today's incident, is also a regular at the stand. While police maintain a personal file on Chand, they say they have reports that Bittu is into pick-pocketing. So far, they have not caught him red-handed.Residents on either side of the invisible divide recall that the 1992 riots have been the worst so far. ``What happened that year has left behind a thin line of communication between us,'' says 70-year-old Phool Chand. Besides, over the past five years several outsiders have settled in the area. Many of these people, claims Phool Chand, already had criminal backgrounds before they settled in an around Babu Buniyadi chowk.``And the result is that in 1997 a minor argument over the construction of a building led to a communal clash. The problem is the youngsters, they are easily instigated,'' adds Mohammed Salim.``That is why'', says another police official, ``we keep a close watch on the youngsters. Most of them are unemployed or poorly educated. They are the potential trouble-makers".
