Members of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and United Residents Joint Front (URJA) called upon Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri and raised the issues of sealing and rampant anti-encroachment drive being carried out by the municipal corporations in the national Capital. Officials of trade body also requested the Minister to direct civic bodies to serve a prior notice before initiating any action.
The Minister said that the city is confronting with various critical issues like pollution, encroachment, unruly traffic etc, which need to be looked into with all seriousness to make the city conducive to live in coming years, said CAIT in an official release. The release also stated that both trade bodies and RWAs if work jointly, shall resolve each issue with its logical conclusion.
In the meeting, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal suggested to constitute a working group comprising of senior officials of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), municipal corporations, the Delhi Government and representatives of Traders to work in a cohesive manner for resolving current issues.
Khandelwal said encroachments on public land in any residential, commercial/industrial and Green areas should strictly be removed and demolished.
He also said that vendors and hawkers should be placed as per policy spelled out in ‘The Street Vendors (Protection of livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. “The footpaths should be free from encroachments. Stilt parking should not to be allowed for any commercial activity and violation should be punished with immediate effect. Funds collected as development charges or conversion charges shall be utilised for the purpose they are collected in a stipulated fixed time in consultation with trade bodies and RWAs concerned,” he said.
He further said all grievances received by the department must be converted into digital format and uploaded along with grievances filed online. “Synchronise the grievance recording mechanism at the assembly and ward level. Complaints recorded with the Police, Jal board, Municipalities and PWD and elected representatives (Municipal councilor or MlA) must reflect in the department’s grievance register,” an official release stated.