Delhi on edge as sealing resumes

New Delhi: Amid the chaos and a cacophony of traders' protest, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will resume its sealing drive on Wednesday against business establishments operating illegally from residential areas.

The decision to resume sealing from Wednesday was taken by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee and the MCD following a Supreme Court order on Monday to go ahead with the drive. A and B category areas are likely to be sealed from Wednesday onwards.

Nearly 120 traders have been arrested as preventive measure by Delhi Police in light of the sealing drive.

The National Capital remained on the edge on Tuesday as the anguished traders' lobby laid a siege on the city, venting their anger against the sealing drive. Thousands of agitating traders were detained across the Capital as police and paramilitary forces turned the city into a fortress apprehending violence during the 24-hour bandh called by the traders.

The anguished trader lobby laid siege on the city, venting their anger against the sealing order on city buses, gheraoing an MCD office and clashing with the police.

Police detained over 1,500 traders from various parts of the city amid reports of stone pelting and road blockades.

Besides damaging over half-a-dozen city buses, angry crowds on the rampage attacked and damaged a police vehicle that was ferrying some protestors detained from Mayur Vihar in East Delhi.

The other areas that witnessed violence included Rohini in West Delhi, Paharganj in Old Delhi and Green Park in South Delhi.

Some of the worst affected areas were Karol Bagh, Green Park, Vikas Marg, Rohini, Shahadra, Malviya Nagar and Paharganj.

Officials said they had also stopped trucks carrying traders and their supporters to avoid people from gathering at one place. "These are precautionary measures so that traders do not resort to violence," a senior official says.

Angry traders said the city had come to a standstill because the government had failed to protect the interests of the people.

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Meanwhile, the Government has no intention to bring in any legislation in Parliament in the coming session to provide one-time amnesty to traders in view of the Supreme Court's observations rapping the government on the matter.

“As of now they have no plans to come out with a bill to provide relief to the 40,000 odd traders who had filed affidavit in the Apex Court," a top official of the Urban Development Ministry says.

Sources in the Ministry felt that the Court had doubted the intentions of the Government to carry out its order and therefore it has no plans to go against the wishes of the court.

"I do not know if there is any escape route now left with the Government after the Supreme Court order," sources say.

Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, however, says that the Group of Ministers would brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the matter. "We have nothing to say to

the media," he added.

The BJP in its official reaction to Tuesday’s Delhi bandh said the whole law and order machinery in the Capital had collapsed.

“The Government has neither will nor any plan to provide any relief to the traders,'' BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar says.

Holding the Centre and the Sheila Dikshit Government responsible for the present situation in Delhi, Javadekar said the BJP had already demanded the one-time amnesty for the shop-owners in residential areas.

Besides, a Bill should be re-prepared to put on hold the sealing drive by one year and the Government should not delay any further to bring out the Delhi's Master Plan 2021 with necessary amendments so that such situations did not recur in future, he added.

(With agency inputs)

5.4 lakh shops across Delhi face closure 27 lakh traders have their livelihoods at risk

North Delhi: Kamla Nagar. East Delhi: Mayur Vihar, Vikas Marg and Seelampur. South Delhi: Green Park, South Extension, Lajpat Nagar and GK. West Delhi: Rajouri Garden and Rohini Central Delhi: Karol Bagh.