The Capital’s three municipal bodies have called an emergency session to pass a resolution requesting a six-month stay on the ongoing sealing of properties in Delhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Manoj Tiwari announced a special joint session of the three civic bodies on January 27. Mayors of the three municipal corporations — Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Preety Aggarwal and Neema Bhagat — were also present at the press conference.
“In this emergency session, the three municipal corporations will pass a resolution requesting that the ongoing sealing of properties be stayed for six months during which the civic bodies and the Delhi government will complete clarification work of formation of regularisation and conversion charge rules, and put them in the public domain,” Mr. Tiwari said.
‘Matter of regret’
Terming it a “matter of regret”, Mr. Tiwari alleged that the Kejriwal-led government had failed the people of Delhi by neither notifying commercial roads nor starting formalities for regularisation of unauthorised colonies.
He alleged that the Delhi government had “negligently” filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking more time without submitting any work plan. As a result, the north-east Delhi MP claimed, the Supreme Court had ordered that sealing will start under the supervision of the monitoring committee.
“We appeal to the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor to call a meeting of officials of the Central and State governments, the three civic bodies, the Delhi Development Authority, the New Delhi Municipal Council and other related departments, and ensure that a single advocate, in a coordinated manner, appears on behalf of all of them and seeks one year for traders and residents to complete regularisation work as per the fresh notified instructions,” he said.
The three Mayors said they felt “sad” that at a time when the people of Delhi were disturbed due to the ongoing sealing campaign the Kejriwal government was “trying to mislead the people on the conversion charge issue” instead of trying to find a solution.
“The civic bodies have not misused the conversion charge and whatever little diversion of funds has been made in public interest it is due to the Delhi government’s failure to give the civic bodies proper funds as recommended by the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission,” the Mayors were quoted as having said in a joint statement.
