The Hindu : New Delhi News : Sealing drive puts officials in a tizzy

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Friday, Sep 15, 2006
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New Delhi

Sealing drive puts officials in a tizzy

Sandeep Joshi

MCD chief non-committal on when it would it end

NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi might have cleared the list of 2,183 roads and streets to be converted into mixed land use and commercial categories, but no official in the civic body is sure whether the entire process would bring an end to the ongoing sealing drive against commercial establishments in residential areas across the Capital.

While at the last MCD Standing Committee meeting Municipal Commissioner A K. Nigam had categorically stated that the drive would not stop until either the Supreme Court or the Monitoring Committee appointed by the Court orders it, on Thursday he refused to comment when the Councillors asked him whether the sealing drive would end after the list of new roads was cleared.

"The matter is with the Supreme Court and I do not want to comment on it," was the reply that Mr. Nigam gave to the Councillors at the Standing Committee meeting. However, at the last meeting, he had clarified that the sealing would not stop unless the Monitoring Committee gave a go-ahead for it. "The sealing of hazardous and illegal businesses and trades will continue even after the notification of new roads and streets for commercial and mixed land use," he had told the Councillors.

Facing a backlash from traders and residents, the Councillors have been pressuring senior MCD officials to stop the sealing drive. Interestingly, since the Union Urban Development Ministry came out with the notification over a week ago asking the MCD to identify roads and streets for inclusion in the commercial and mixed land use category, the civic body's ongoing sealing drive has lost momentum.

MCD Standing Committee Chairman J. K. Sharma said they were making all efforts to ensure that the notification containing the list of roads for commercial and mixed land use comes before the Supreme Court's September 16 deadline, after which the entire city would be covered in the sealing drive. MCD House leader Jitender Kochar said he has urged the Monitoring Committee members to take a decision before September 16 on de-sealing shops of traders who had submitted affidavits for shifting to trades exempted under the amended Master Plan.

However, senior Bharatiya Janata Party Councillor Vijender Gupta said the delay in the issuance of notification had led to an atmosphere of fear among traders. Meanwhile, the MCD on Thursday took action against around 100 shops and properties for misuse. While more than three-dozen shops were sealed at Tahirpur, G.T.B. Enclave, Babarpur and Bhajanpura in East Delhi, 10 properties, including automobile repair and furniture shops, were sealed at Khokha Market and Vasant Gaon in South Delhi. Sealing action was also carried out at Najafgarh, Dabri, Raj Nagar, Jangpura, Bhogal and Shahdara.

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