After peaceful sealing, protests resurface, 726 shops sealed

New Delhi, Apr 4 (UNI) After a day of peaceful sealings yesterday, Delhi saw another wave of protests against the sealing operations as 726 shops were put to the seal today.

However, despite the protests against sealing in several areas of Delhi like Rohini and Jail Road the drive by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to seal shops in residential areas gained further momentum in the day.

The maximum number of 177 commercial units were sealed in the Rohini area while 145 units were sealed in the Karol Bagh zone, 105 in Civil Lines, 74 in South, 53 in Shahdara (South), 51 in City, 48 in Najafgarh and 36 in West.

The sealed units included 17 units in Raja Garden which were resealed.

At the same time, 2461 traders today filed affidavits in the Deputy Commissioners of their zones to close down their shops by June 30. The Apex court had yesterday extended the date for filing of affidavits till April 7.

In Rohini hundreds of traders, led by the Rohini Municipal councillor Vijender Gupta demonstrated against the sealing operation of the MCD at the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital when the operation began in the morning.

Mr Gupta alleged that the police, in a bid to disperse the demonstrators, resorted to lathicharge in which several traders were injured.

The sealing operation at the Jail Road area in West zone also met with protests from traders led by senior trader leader Vijaypal and the area Councillor Onkar Singh Thapar.

Mr Thapar said he had courted arrest in protest against the sealing action and was remanded to 14 day police custody.

The day also saw protests by the Shiv Sena at the Jantar Mantar against the sealing operation. The Shiv Sena protestors, who also submitted a memorandum to President A P J Abdul Kalam, were led by the outfit's North India chief Jaibhagwan Goel.

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