A Chennai Corporation official said that the 13 buildings that were sealed are commercial buildings. “We have already issued notices to more than 30 buildings and planned to seal all the buildings on Wednesday. However, due to time constraint, we had managed to seal only 13 buildings. Earlier, we used to seal one or two buildings per month and this is the first time 13 buildings were locked and sealed in a single day,” the official said.

The official added that the remaining buildings would be sealed after Pongal. When asked whether the building regularisation scheme (113-C) provide respites to the sealed buildings, the official explained that the cut-off date for the building regularisation scheme is July 1, 2007, and the sealed buildings were either constructed after the cut-off date or still under construction.

“The owners of the buildings can appeal to the Housing and Urban Development department to de-seal the buildings,” he added.