Sealing opns losing steam as politicking to halt sealing peaks

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) With political activity for the issuance of an Ordinance to stop the sealing of shops in residential areas in Delhi reaching its zenith today - the Congress leaders preparing themselves for a decisive battle on the issue and the BJP continuing with its 'jail bharo' protests, the sealing operation of the MCD seemed to be fast losing steam with just 329 shops sealed on the tenth day of the drive today.

As a last ditch effort to halt the ongoing sealing and demolition operations, 11 Municipal councillors from South Delhi constituency today threatened to resign from their posts if the Delhi Government and the Centre did not urgently come out with an Ordinance or a Bill.

At an emergency meeting held at the residence of senior Congress leader R K Anand, the councillors, led by the leader of the MCD House Jitender Kochar, demanded the Centre to immediately come out with an Ordinance or a Bill in the re-convened session of Parliament to bring relief to the traders.

They also called for speedy implementation of the Master Plan, 2021 and put a halt to the sealing and demolition operation till the Tejender Khanna committee submitted its report.

The councillors, which included Mr Jitender Kochar, Mr Ashok Vohra, Mr Sanjay Puri, Mr Kunwar Sen, Dr Anita Babbar (who is a candidate for the post of Deputy Mayor), Vimal Chaudhry, Mrs Indu, Ms Jayshree Pawar and Mr Hiran Tokas, threatened to resign if the Centre did not take urgent steps to address the matter.

The councillors will meet Delhi state Congress Committee president Rambabu Sharma later in the day urging him to raise the matter with party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention.

Not to be left behind, nine Congress MLAs from the Outer Delhi Assembly segment today threatened to wage a "decisive battle" if no decision was taken in the matter by the Government.

The MLAs met Lieutenant Governor B L Joshi and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to immediately put a stop to the sealing and demolition drives in Delhi.

In a memorandum to the Lt Governor, the MLAs, led by Mr Mukesh Sharma, urged him to give relief to the people of Delhi by exercising his powers as the Constitutional head of the Capital, to stop the demolition drive and the sealing of shops.

They urged the Lt Governor to declare all those roads with 50 per cent business establishments as commercial areas which would save lakhs of people from being rendered unemployed. They also said the DDA and the state Government should elicit views of the MLAs before formulating the Master Plan 2021.

Mr Joshi assured the MLAs that he would request the DDA to have extensive discussions wih the MLAs before formulating the 2021 Master Plan so that all aspects could be considered.

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