Outer Delhi Cong MLAs call for Ordinance to halt sealing

New Delhi, Apr 5 (UNI) After Congress MPs from Delhi, nine MLAs from Outer Delhi today demanded that the Government promulgate an Ordinance or bring a Bill in the re-convened session of Parliament to amend existing laws to provide relief to the people of Delhi living under the fear of demolition and sealing operation.

In the event of the Government not coming up with an Ordinance or Bill in the next two three days, the MLAs said they would announce their further course of action.

Addressing a press conference here, Outer Delhi MLA Mukesh Sharma said the demolition operation and sealing of shops in residential areas had affected mainly the poor and middle class sections of society which constituted nearly 90 per cent of the population of Delhi while benefitting only the 10 per cent subscribing to the Mall culture.

''People who shop in malls just constitute ten per cent of the population of Delhi while the rest of the people depend on neighbourhood shops for meeting their day-to-day needs. You can't destroy Delhi just to satisfy just ten per cent of the population,''Mr Sharma said at the press meet where eight of the nine MLAs from Outer Delhi -- Mukesh Sharma, Jai Kishan, Surender Kumar, Malaram Gangwal, Anil Bhardwaj, Dr Bijender Singh, Vijay Singh Lochav, and Balram Tanwar -- were present.

The MLAs alleged that if the shops were sealed then not only the prices of essential goods would sky-rocket, but people would be forced to leave Delhi, unable to bear the high cost of living.

They said if the neighbourhood shops were sealed, the Rs 7000 crore generated from VAT in the last financial year would totally dry up, leading to the total collapse of the economy of the city.

The MLAs said the sealing operation had not only affected traders but also rendered lakhs of people unemployed.

''Where are the jobs to provide employment to these people. As it is, the number of Government jobs have declined over the years.

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