At Qutub, MCD teams move at snail's pace

By the end of the day, the team managed to seal just two of the eight properties not confirming to land use, report Moushumi Das Gupta and Vibha Sharma.

The sealing juggernaut on Tuesday rolled to Qutub Institutional Area but MCD officials seemed in no hurry to get on with their work. By the end of the day, the team managed to seal just two of the eight properties not confirming to land use.

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The action at the Qutub Institutional Area follows after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had sent a list of eight such properties that were allotted land by it at a nominal price for promotion of art and culture. But the people who were allotted the land had let the properties to multinational and private companies for running commercial activities.

A senior MCD official at the spot said, “We will seal the remaining six properties on Wednesday. Because of lack of staff and police force we managed to seal just two properties.”

A statement issued by the MCD said the two properties that were sealed on Tuesday included A-8 and B-25. A-8 was allotted to Vaitalik Cultural Association it had let the property to a number of corporate and government offices including Department of Science and Technology. The other property –B-25 – was allotted to Namgyal Institute for Research on Ladhaki Art and Culture.

In one of the properties, a private company – Nirlac House – was running its office. Employees at the office said MCD officials walked into their office unannounced and gave them 15 minutes to vacate the place. There were a few heated exchanges as the owners summoned their lawyers to argue their case.

It was a similar scene at the Ernst & Young office next door. The  employees tried to knock off the signboard on the building that was a sure giveaway that the building housed a commercial office and that it was not being used for institutional activity.

Email: moushumi.gupta@hindustantimes.com