The screen capture of the story is above, unfortunately I am unable to access the 2nd page of the story because I am not a subscriber to the service that provides printed versions of newspapers.
I was able to find a story witha link but I hit a road block, because once you click on the link you receive a page full of error messages.
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***
The link works now, so here is the full story:
No pizza deliveries in Muslim area
By Rashme Sehgal
New Delhi, Dec. 29: Prestigious eateries like Wimpy’s, Nirula’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza refuse to do home deliveries to the largely Muslim-dominated population living in Okhla, New Delhi. The sizeable teaching community living on the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus allege that despite repeated requests to these outlets, located in the nearest community centre of New Friends Colony (NFC) market, to change their stand, they have refused to relent.
The ostensible reason why they stopped home deliveries was because a delivery boy got mugged three months ago. He was beaten up and the food and money he was carrying was snatched by some local goons.
But residents point out this sort of thing can happen anywhere and is not reason enough to hold an entire community to ransom. Phalak Fatima, a Class 11 student of Delhi Public School, said, "My friends and I used to love coming home from school and ordering a pizza. We can no longer do that. And, unfortunately, some of the eateries in NFC do not have a sitting arrangement. They just have outlets. That means we have to specially go there to place an order and then wait outside for almost 30 minutes in order to collect the food. This is extremely inconvenient, especially in the evenings."
Fauzia Afteen, a schoolteacher teaching at the Jamia Middle School, pointed out, "This boycott has caused tremendous inconvenience to the residents here. Hamburgers and pizzas are the most popular consumption items with kids today. They don’t wish to eat anything else."
Rakhshanda Jalil, a media coordinator at the Jamia university, points out that most service providers, including grocery shops, dry cleaners and video parlours, refuse to do home deliveries here. "We noticed the difference when we moved here two years ago from Gulmohar Park, where all one had to do was pick up the phone to place an order. In the beginning we tried to cajole and persuade these people, but nothing worked."
Ms Jalil adds, "Opening a bank account becomes a cumbersome operation if one states one is a resident of Jamia and it is next to impossible to get a loan. This is something which the Sachar Committee report has also highlighted."
Dr Mushirul Hasan, vice-chancellor of JMI, points out, "This is one more attempt to target the minority community. Over the years, the civic agencies have systematically neglected this area. As a result, residents here have no facilities whatsoever — no parks, no roads and no markets. It is for this reason that they have to depend on New Friends Colony for everything. We do not possess even a Mother Dairy booth. By contrast, the neighbouring colony of Sukhdev Vihar and Sarvapriya Vihar have been provided with all the facilities," Dr Hasan adds.
Dharmendra, a young manager at Nirula’s, New Friends Colony, has a different take on the issue. "We have been on a major staff reduction exercise and many of the areas that were included in our home delivery list earlier have been struck off. We have stopped home doing deliveries in Okhla Phase One and Two."
Gurmeet, a manager at McDonald’s, offers a similar explanation. "There is a lot of lawlessness in some of these areas. Our boys find it very difficult to visit these areas as there is a negligible police presence there. Parts of Okhla and Timur Nagar are difficult for our boys to negotiate."
Dr Hasan does not agree. "Jamia is no different from any other colony in Delhi. The crime rate here is certainly not higher than other parts of the city."
Interestingly, none of these outlets seem to have a problem with home deliveries at Sarita Vihar, which is located much further away. When asked why there was this discrimination, Gurmeet said a little lamely, "We don’t do any deliveries in Sarita Vihar after 9 pm."
The residents have not, however, gone public with their grievances. Mr Parvez Hashmi, the local MLA, was not even aware of this problem. Minority affairs minister A.R. Antulay expressed shock at this blatant discrimination. Mr Antulay said, "No one has approached me with this problem. But this kind of untouchability against any minority community will not be tolerated. It will be put down strongly with the iron grip of the law."
Dr Mushirul Hasan complained about how this area had been receiving step-motherly treatment for decades. "I succeeded in getting a Kendriya Bhandar and a bank opened on the university campus after a great deal of difficulty," he said. "Contrast this with the JNU campus (where he resides) and the many amenities that have been provided to the people living there. And while JNU caters to around 5,000 students, we have more than 15,000 on our campus alone," Dr Hasan says.
Ironically, two of the largest eateries in NFC — Nathu’s and Fast Trax — do not seem to have a problem with taking orders from Muslim residents. The only problem here is that the happening generation would rather dig into a pizza than end up ordering chane bhature or paneer samosas. Ms Heeba Haziq, also a teacher of English at Jamia, said, "Tastes have changed. I have young kids. They want to eat what kids around the globe are eating."
Pertinent Links:
1) PressDisplay (the site that I obtained the screen capture from)
2) No pizza deliveries in Muslim area
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