The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri, requesting for an amnesty scheme to protect traders of Delhi from the onslaught of sealing. The CAIT in its communication has held authorities responsible for failing to ensuring structured development and growth of trade and commerce in Delhi and failure of timely implementation of various provisions of earlier Master Plans by previous Governments which have caught the traders in the quagmire of sealing.
CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that Delhi traders are facing a great onslaught of sealing since year 2006 though you took every effort from year 2014 to resolve sealing issue and much has been resolved to a great extent.
“In the event of non timely implementation of earlier Master Plans and due to lethargic attitude of the authorities and previous Governments, the trade of Delhi was developed by traders in an unstructured way to meet the requirements of people of Delhi,” he said.
The letter further stated that even the additional secretary of Ministry of Urban Development had filed an Affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2008 and admitted that various agencies could able to develop only 16 per cent of the commercial space in Delhi in past four decades. The rest of the 84 per cent commercial space was developed by traders on their own and without any support from any quarter in order to meet the needs of growing population of Delhi.
However, without realising the contribution of traders in development of Delhi, a process of sealing of shops started in year 2006 and which is still continued, it said.
The trade of Delhi has been greatly destroyed as thousands of shops are still remain sealed and there is no hope of de-sealing of the same due to very adamant and arbitrary attitude of the monitoring committee, it said, adding that the entire trade of Delhi is crying.
Khandelwal suggested that on the pattern of regularisation of unauthorised colonies, the Government may bring an amnesty scheme with a cutoff date with a provision of maintaining status quo as on cutoff date and no action may be taken against such properties or any action if taken should be reversed to it actual position of cutoff date. “The development norms could be specified separately for such shop/areas falling under amnesty scheme and reasonable charges may also be prescribed for availing the benefit of the scheme,” he added.
The shops already sealed may be allowed to be de-sealing bringing back normalcy in Delhi business, he said, adding that this act of kindness will certainly give one of the major relief to Delhi traders and will ensure that there must not be any revenue loss to the Government and no law is violated and traders may be free from the jaws of sealing.