To protest against ‘ongoing sealing drive carried out by the municipal corporations in the national Capital, trade associations will hold regular protests in different markets until the Central Government brings Bill in current session of Parliament or bring an Ordinance immediately after the session to stop sealing, said Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
The traders’ body has already announced to hit the street on January 3.
The traders’ body has also prepared a charter for the agitation which includes de-sealing of all shops which have been sealed and to stop all kinds of sealing in Delhi.
Khandelwal said that the shopkeepers have been doing their business in the market for decades. “They had given employment to many people in each shop but due to illegal sealing, they all have become unemployed now. “Sealing is one of the core and critical issues of traders which is directly linked with their earnings. In last one year thousands of shops in Delhi have been sealed whereas the sword of sealing is hanging on other thousands of shops and no one is listening to the woes of the traders,” he said.
Trade was been hit hard across the national capital this year (2018) after building department of the municipal corporations had started sealing business establishments for non-payment of conversion charges, encroachment and illegal construction on the instructions of the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) sealed 135 shops out of 153 at lodhi Colony’s Meharchand Market, 350 shops in lajpat Nagar-4 and 106 units in 33 properties in Greater Kailash Enclave 2, Rajouri Garden, Janakpuri, Virender Nagar, Hari Nagar and other areas. Besides, all three corporations sealed many other units in different areas, prompted frequent protest by traders.
Thousands of shops across the city have been sealed since last December and there is still no sigh of relief amid all the coordinated efforts put up by all concerned parties. Sealing in the capital is being done by Monitoring Committee appointed by the Supreme Court in March 2006 to conduct sealing drive under its supervision.
It was further revised on December 15, 2017 with three members comprising former adviser to the Election Commission KJ Rao, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) Bhure lal and Major General (retd) Som Jhingan of the team.