Sealing on, violence off
After a week-long pause, the sealing of unauthorised commercial establishments in Delhi’ residential colonies resumed under tight security on Wednesday.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: After a week-long pause, the sealing of unauthorised commercial establishments in Delhi’ residential colonies resumed under tight security on Wednesday.
The sealing took place under the supervision of the Supreme Court’s monitoring committee, and while the dismay of the traders was writ large, there wasn’t any violent resistance. With four Congress councillors offering to resign in protest, and with union minister Kapil Sibal calling for a legislative remedy, all eyes are on the union cabinet meeting on Thursday which is likely to discuss the issue.
The main area of sealing on Wednesday was residential colonies of South Delhi. An MCD sealing team consisting of an executive engineer, junior engineer and officials of power and water authorities sealed CTC Plaza, Thapar Business Centre, Bata showroom and a few other shops near Ashram junction on Ring Road. Incidentally, offices of the TRAI, functioning from a private building in Safdarjung Enclave, were also sealed.
Though there were no major protests, traders alleged that they were not given advance notice about the sealing and could not remove goods from their shops. A large number of security personnel including contingents of paramilitary Raf, CRPF and BSF and Delhi Police were deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
Senior police officials including Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Delhi) Anil Shukla were overseeing the action. Unlike in the past, this time it was not the MCD, but the monitoring committee which has decided on when and where to carry out the operations.
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Meanwhile, four Congress councilors have reportedly offered to resign saying they can’t continue in their posts if the government fails to bring relief to traders. The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Centre, MCD and DDA on a petition seeking the allotment of vacant government land in the national capital to construct shops for traders affected by the sealing drive. The drive is scheduled to be extended to other parts of Delhi from Thursday.
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