In the wake of continuous sealing of shops in various parts of the national Capital, traders in South Delhi observed a bandh in different markets in South Delhi which wore a deserted look on Friday.
Prominent markets like Greater Kailash, South Extension, Defence Colony, Hauz Khas, Yusuf Sarai and others remained closed whole day. Traders also gathered at South Extension and staged a demonstration demanded respite from sealing.
Talking to The Pioneer, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) general secretary Praveen Khandelwal said a meeting has been called to discuss the future course of action. “Traders closed their shops around 11 markets today and protested against indiscriminate sealing even in protected areas such as Chandni Chowk. If traders will not provided respite from sealing, traders across the city will close their shops/ markets,”he said.
Khandelwal said that these markets which in the beginning were granted as ‘Local Shopping Centres’ and ‘Local Commercial Markets’ where commercial activities are being carried out for decades. What is the logic of demanding conversion charges and that too more exorbitant in compare to residential areas converted into commercial areas,” he added.
One of the traders who were protesting at Yusuf Sarai said that it is quite injustice and much against the spirit of the principle of natural justice. “The proposed ‘Floor Area Ratio’ (FAR) of 350 or 400-500 should be immediately implemented by the Central Government since commercial activities are being conducted to meet the demand and the Government has failed to built enough commercial space in Delhi,” he said.
Officials of the CAIT categorically said that if there is no hearing of the version of the traders by the civic authorities, then traders of whole of Delhi shall be compelled to observe ‘Delhi trade Bandh’ very soon.
The CAIT has also demanded immediate direct intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to initiate dialogue with traders’ delegation to resolve the issue.
“Sealing in Delhi is being done in utter disregard of the constitutional provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957. The MCD officials are behaving like bonded labor of the ‘Supreme Court Appointed Monitoring Committee’ and sealing the premises by violating the laid down norms,” Khandelwal said.
Ramesh Khanna, secretary (CAIT) said that the unified MCD has passed 351 Roads to be declared as commercial and mixed land use about 10 years back and sent the list for notifying these roads to Delhi Government. “It is highly regretted that no steps have been taken and the issue is dumped in the files. The CAIT has called upon Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to immediately notify the roads to provide relief to traders who are conducting business activities on these roads,” he said.