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Photos: Sequestered on a tiny Yamuna island during lockdown in Delhi
Chilla Yamuna Khadar is a small island located on the Yamuna river. The 80 odd people living on the island have been cut off from the world since India's lockdown began on March 25. Three friends along with some volunteers have since been providing essential supplies to the island's residents.
Updated on: May 03, 2020 4:49 PM IST
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Volunteers board a boat with relief packages -- to be distributed among residents of Chilla Yamuna Khadar – a small island located on the river, some 8 kilometers away from Mayur Vihar, during lockdown, in New Delhi. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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The initiative to provide food and other relief materials to the villagers living on the island was taken by three friends Vijendra Dhama, Rajiv Kohli and Virendra Sachdev. They began on March 26 – a day after the lockdown was enforced throughout the country to check the spread of coronavirus. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Suraj Kumar, 25, from Bihar covers his face with a piece of cloth, as he prepares to row a boat. As soon as the packages are loaded onto his boat -- Kumar, a fisherman who lives in Yamuna Khadar takes of with the volunteers on a 15 minute ride to the island. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Volunteers en route to the island on a boat laden with essentials. With the lockdown in place, the residents of the island have lost their means of livelihoods on the mainland and have been dependent on the team of volunteers. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Buffaloes seen wading through the waters of Yamuna on a hot sunny day. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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A boat laden with essentials, headed towards waiting islanders. Before the lockdown, the residents of the island would row out to Okhla to get essential supplies. But now with shops closest to them shut and no income, all they can do is wait. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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A man bathes on a summer day on the banks of river Yamuna. With water on three sides and tall shrubs growing out of muddy water, the fourth leads to the Delhi Noida Direct (DND) Flyway – locking the residents of the island in. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Volunteers disembark from a boat after reaching Chilla Yamuna Khadar. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Residents of the island wait for the relief packages to arrive. People started living in Chilla Yamuna Khadar around 20 years ago when flooding forced them to leave their shanties on the banks of Yamuna. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Volunteers carry essential supplies for the residents of Yamuna Khadar. The residents here grow vegetables and sell them to small traders on the DND. A few also work as fishermen. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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Women and children, some wearing face masks seen inside a house on Chilla Yamuna Khadar. The residents say that the virus has not touched the island so far as hardly any outsider ventures here, but it has also made their life difficult as they now depend on outsiders for food. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT Photo)
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