NEW DELHI: The 45,000-odd traders in the Capital who face the prospect of sealing of their commercial premises from November 1 under the directions of the Supreme Court were a disappointed lot on Diwali-eve as the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil failed to come out with any solution to their predicament and instead asked them to seek relief from the apex court-appointed Monitoring Committee.

The absence of Union Minister Kapil Sibal and Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken from the GoM meeting on Thursday evening left no one to plead the case of the traders or deliberate upon other issues.

Substantial relief

Interestingly, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit emerging from the meeting said substantial relief had been provided to the people of Delhi and the 45,000-odd traders who have filed their affidavits should seek redress from the Monitoring Committee.

Although the GoM felt that the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 should be speeded up and notified at the earliest, there was hardly anything to offer as far as the trading community was concerned.

The traders had also gone and met Mr. Patil before the meeting but to their disappointment he had nothing much to offer to them.

"There was hardly any discussion on what steps should be taken to provide relief. The meeting just felt that traders had been granted relief by the Court and this should be a reason for joy. There was no discussion on whether the Delhi Special Laws (Amendment) Act, 2006, should be included in the IX Schedule of the Constitution. There was hardly anyone in the meeting to talk about Delhi and its problems and it was only Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy who felt that some concrete measures need to be taken to end the uncertainty,'' said highly placed sources.

Many of the traders who attended the meeting said that there was hardly any attempt to understand the situation and the GoM including Mr. Patil were unaware about the ground realities.

Observers in the Capital are of the view that although the extension of the deadline for filing affidavits by the 5 lakh-odd traders who are covered by the September 7 and September 15 notifications till January 31 has come as a relief to the Ministry as well as the traders, the sword of uncertainty continues to hang over the heads of the traders who will have to file the affidavits.

"We wanted the entire thing sorted out by the end of this year but now the matter has been posted for hearing in February and any adverse order or direction of the Court would have a negative impact on the outcome of the MCD elections scheduled for February or March next year,'' a senior Congress leader remarked.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had constituted the GoM to resolve issues arising out of sealing and demolitions exercise in the Capital but the GoM has hardly debated or discussed anything different from what had already been outlined by the Union Urban Development Ministry, leaving even local Congressmen disappointed.

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