THE SEALING of unauthorised shops in residential areas will resume from Wednesday. The 24-hour bandh called by traders on Tuesday brought the Capital to a standstill but did not have the desired impact as the Supreme Court-constituted Monitoring Committee directed that the sealing drive be resumed. The panel's directive comes a day after the court turned down the applications of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Centre to postpone the sealing drive.
There is, however, a lot of speculation on which localities will be the target of sealing squads. Unlike in its previous drives, this time the MCD officers do not have the discretionary powers to send sealing squads to particular colonies. "We will get instructions from the Monitoring Committee on Wednesday morning," said a senior MCD official on condition of anonymity. "We have just been asked to keep our teams on standby."
Traders, who operate along 185 roads that are 80-ft-wide or more and who had filed affidavits that they would close down their shops by June 30 to escape the first round of sealing, are likely to be the first to face the sealing squads.
Of the 40,800 traders who had filed affidavits, 9,000 traders who have small shops are exempt from the drive, provided they are not located in the 'A' and 'B' category colonies. In these colonies there will be no relief even for "small neighbourhood shops".
Unauthorised shops in the A and B category colonies, especially in south Delhi, will indeed be easy targets. The MCD official said the traders who had given affidavits would be easy to target because the database of their shops was ready. "We have all the information on how many shops are located along the 185 roads and the kind of businesses the traders do. They will not be able to fool the sealing squads by changing their businesses at the last minute," he said.
Unauthorised shops in the A and B category colonies, especially in south Delhi, will indeed be easy targets. The MCD official said the traders who had given affidavits would be easy to target because the database of their shops was ready. "We have all the information on how many shops are located along the 185 roads and the kind of businesses the traders do. They will not be able to fool the sealing squads by changing their businesses at the last minute," he said.