Bring ordinance to end sealing drive: Traders
‘ILLEGAL’ CONSTRUCTIONS Residents welcome Supreme Court’s decision not to vacate the stay on modifications in Master Plan of Delhi 2021, bizmen say Centre not doing enough Everyone is just interested in playing politics and turning Delhi into a chaotic city. It is great that the court questioned the special provision act. The court is rightly taking cognizance of the matter.
RAJIV KAKRIA, member, Greater Kailash-i RWA
NEW DELHI: Residents of the city heaved a slight sigh of relief on Tuesday after the Supreme Court refused to vacate the stay on modifications in Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021.
Traders of the city, however, were a miffed lot and demanded that the Centre immediately brings in an ordinance to stop the sealing drive being carried out in the city on the direction of the Apex court-appointed monitoring committee.
Udai Pratap Singh, DDA’S vice chairman, said the court had not decided on the case yet and the hearing will continue.
Rajiv Kakaria, member of Greater Kailash I, Resident Welfare Association, said that it was good that the court has come out strong against the law breakers. “Everyone is just interested in playing politics and turning Delhi into a chaotic city. It is great that the court questioned the special provision act. The court is rightly taking cognizance of the matter because only law abiding citizens are suffering,” he said.
On the other hand, Praveen Khandelwal, the National Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that the only solution to the stalemate was an ordinance giving one year time to all stakeholders — the Centre, Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), municipal corporations, residents and traders — to sit down and find out a way out.
Praveen Shankar Kapoor, secretary of Chandni Chowk Nagrik Manch, said that it was the right time for the Centre to take the matter into its own hands. “The Centre should deal with the issue directly. The Attorney General should be sent to the SC to represent the case properly,” he said.
In February, DDA — Delhi’s land owning agency — had approved amendments to MPD, 2021, allowing uniform Floor Area Ratio of 350 for shop-cum- residential plots, use of basements to run businesses and rationalisation of conversion charges. The aim was to provide relief to traders and property owners facing sealing drive threat for alleged violation of municipal norms. On March 7, however, the Apex court stayed the changes as DDA had failed to respond to its query on whether it had undertaken a study to assess the environmental impact of the changes in the plan.
“A high-level committee, under the chairmanship of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, should be set up to look into the matter. The sealing should stop for at least a year. In this period, the Centre and the state government should work out rules to regularize existing construction and prevent possible violation of building bylaws in future,” Khandelwal said.