Councillors of the opposition party in Municipal Corporation of Dehradun have stated that the drive currently underway against encroachments by vendors is good but it should not be politically influenced. They further stated that the statement by the mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ about imposing up to Rs 1,00,000 fine on the encroachers is hollow because as per the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1959, MCD officials can impose a minimum of Rs 500 and maximum of Rs 5,000 fine on those found encroaching.
The Congress councillor from ward number 80 (Rest Camp), Archana Kapoor said, “When work is being done to establish something which is legal it should not be done randomly. Creating a scene for no reason is not valid. There should be a proper way to implement the rules, simply throwing vendors selling products out seems like a show. Secondly, it is worth mentioning that the MCD can only impose Rs 500 to Rs 5000 fine on these people as taking Rs 1,00,000 fine is not valid as per the Act.”
Congress councillor from ward number 29 (Dalanwala) Nikhil said, “We do not oppose the drive but it is important that officials should have proper data of the seized products of the vendors so that they can take all these back when they come to get these released. Also, the drive should not be conducted only in some places but should be held in every part of the city.”
Congress councillor Ramesh Batola from ward number 10 (Dobhalwala) said, “Imposing Rs 1,00,000 fine is not valid. There should be a board meeting first in which this proposal should be passed after which the officials could impose it. However, this amount is too big.”
When asked more about it municipal officials stated that as per the provisions in the Act, MCD cannot impose fine of more than Rs 5000. This correspondent made repeated attempts to contact the mayor for his opinion but he was not available.