No sealing can be carried out in Delhi, claims Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken

NEW DELHI: No sealing can be carried out in Delhi as per existing law, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said today, while citing amendments in the Master Plan, and expressed concern that the Centre and the Delhi government were not properly handling the issue.

The Congress leader has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri, offering to share with them what he feels could be a solution to stop the ongoing sealing drive.

In his letters to Kejriwal and Puri, Maken claimed that according to the amended Master Plan and the National Capital Territory of Delh Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011, no sealing can be carried out in Delhi.

"Being a former Union Urban Development minister, I can say with confidence that to save Delhi from sealing, many amendments had already been made in the Master Plan 2021," he said in the letters.

Maken was Union Minister of State for Urban Development in Manmohan Singh government during 2006-2007.

He also expressed concern that both the Centre and Delhi government were not properly "handling" the sealing issue.

"The situation in Delhi has worsened and if the sealing issue was not tackled sensibly in the coming days, the condition will get dangerous," he warned.

Incidently, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too has written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, stressing on the need for bringing a Bill in Parliament to stop sealing.

The sealing drive was undertaken by the municipal corporations of the national capital on the directions of a Supreme Court-appointed committee in December last year.

Under the drive, hundreds of commercial establishments have been sealed so far for alleged non-payment of conversion charges and violation of Delhi Master Plan.