MCD begins serving 48-hour notices before sealing

The civic body has now started serving 48-hour notices before carrying out sealings in the Capital, reports Neelam Pandey.

After the recent incident in Tilak Nagar where an elderly couple was ‘sealed’ inside their house by the MCD staff, the civic body has now started serving 48-hour notices before carrying out sealings in the Capital. Notices were served to property owners across the Capital on Friday.

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The MCD commissioner has issued an order regarding this. Earlier, the standing committee of the MCD had demanded that 48-hour notice should be given before carrying out a sealing drive. The Lt-Governor too had given a nod to such notices.

In an another development, after getting a number of complaints of alleged pick-and-choose policy of the MCD in carrying out the de-sealing drive, councillors have been told to survey their respective areas and submit a list of properties that were wrongly sealed.

Mayor Arti Mehra said all these reports would be compiled and properties would be de-sealed accordingly. “We will meet the L-G regarding this and would demand that rather than the Monitoring Committee, the MCD commissioner and the additional commissioner should be authorised to de-seal properties,” said Mehra.

According to the civic body in many cases the monitoring committee had taken nearly two years to de-seal properties. The councillors have been given three days time to collect all information regarding such properties. In addition to this, property owners too can submit information regarding such properties to the superintending engineer of the MCD.

The L-G had also suggested that property owners who are served notice for sealing and are able to provide documents in that period stating that it should not be sealed, action should not be initiated against such properties.

MCD councillors had raised the issue of illegal de-sealing in the MCD House on Monday. “The MCD officials have been carrying out sealing and de-sealing according to their whims and fancies. In my ward a lot of properties were sealed illegally”, said councillor Anju Jain, Rohini.