Acting tough against the shopkeepers encroaching public land by putting fixtures, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to launch a drive against encroachment. The action comes following the death of a freelance documentary filmmaker on Saturday due to electrocution at a shop in Green Park market in South Delhi. The SDMC has also sent notice to the owner of the shop for encroaching public land by putting AC unit outside the shop.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation Manish Gupta said that the corporation would soon launch an intensive drive against encroachment on public land particularly in market places, even as he rued that the existing penalty was too less to be a deterrent. “Shopkeepers tend to put their movable goods and other fixtures outside their shops and thus encroach upon the public land. During the drive SDMC staff will prosecute them or even seize their goods,” he said. “We have issued notice to the owner of the shop for illegally putting an air-conditioning unit that had led to electrocution of a person on Saturday. Notices to other property owners will soon be issued and they will be prosecuted in case violations are found during the checking,” Gupta said.
The Commissioner, however, said that the executive wing of the civic body needed a firm political backing for amending the rules to impose a hefty penalty. “The existing penalty fails to act as deterrent. Section 320 of the DMC Act prescribes for a penalty of Rs200 by obstructing the public place by putting up fixtures. The amount of penalty was fixed way back in 1957 while making of the DMC Act. Few amendments have been made later on but no changes have been made in penalty for encroachment on public land,” he added. Interestingly, the penalty for encroachment varies from a meager Rs5 to the maximum of Rs1,000.
On Saturday, 33-year-old free lance documentary filmmaker Anand Bhaskar Morla was electrocuted to death by high-voltage current from a railing in South Delhi’s posh Sri Aurobindo Market. The victim had come in contact with a live wire connected to an air-conditioner perched on an iron railing outside a jewellery shop.