Panic among shopkeepers in Gurugram after violence, migrant workers leave

Panic has gripped shopkepeers in Gurugram after several shops were attacked as a result of the communal violence in Haryana's Nuh district, with several migrants workers leaving the city in fear.

Amid the violence, several meat shops, scrap shops and furniture repair shops at Gurugram's Pataudi Chowk, Khandsa Road, and Sector-70 were attacked on Tuesday.

Some shopkepers have posted notices outside their businesses, saying they belonged to a certain community in an effort to avoid any untoward acts of violence by agitated mobs.

Laxman Tiwari, who runs a juice shop at Sector-70, said: "Few people had visited the Sector-70 market on Tuesday and asked about our religion. When I told them that I am a Hindu, they left the shop without beating us and did not create any problem. They said, 'you are Hindu so we have no problem' and left the shop."

Miscreants are targeting open hollows, meat shops, scrap shops, furniture markets, and tire puncture shops which are owned by the minority community in Gurugram.

"We have come far away from our native places to earn our livelihoods. We are now scared after this incident. We are all Brahmins working here at the shop. We stuck the notes on Tuesday and after this none of the community people have visited our shop," Tiwari claimed.

As a result of the tension, a huge number of migrant workers were also leaving from Sector-70 and the Manesar area.

The migrants have claimed that they will return to Gurugram once the situation normalises.

Malls and shops have also been closed as safety measures.

A security guard at a mall in the area said the establishment has been closed to avoid unwanted incidents.

At least four eateries and scrap shops were set ablaze by a group of over 200 men in the Badshahpur area in Sector 67 as well.

Following the incidents of violence, the Gurugram police have appealed to the public not to disrupt the law and order situation in the city.