Chamber of Trade and Industry writes to Delhi LG over sealing of 25 shops by MCD

Following the sealing of 25 shops in Sadar Bazar by the MCD, the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) wrote a letter to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena regarding the matter on Saturday.

CTI chairman Brijesh Goyal said that due to the sealing action in Sadar Bazar, shopkeepers of other markets have also become panic-stricken. Traders are getting threats of sealing.

Goyal said, "Through the letter, we have requested the LG to get the shops de-sealed soon."

"It is noteworthy that the order for sealing action was issued on 11 April 2022, but the action has taken place after 10 months. What were the officers doing till now?" asked the CTI chairman.

In the letter, CTI told LG that the shops which have been sealed have also got trade licences. The registry has been done in the business category. The registry of many shops has been done before 1947. Recently, Union Urban Development Minister Dr Hardeep Singh Puri also said that there will be no sealing in Delhi. Despite this, traders are being harassed, CTI said.

In this letter, the CTI has written on behalf of the traders, "We demand that the entire Sadar Bazar be notified as commercial. Currently, some streets in the market are residential, but more than 95 per cent of commercial activity takes place in them."

Demanding the status of a commercial area, the letter further stated, "There is a clause in the Master Plan 2021, which states that an area which has more than 70 per cent commercial activity will be considered commercial. Under this, no shop was sealed in Sadar Bazar in 2004, while many places in Delhi were sealed during that time. At the same time, the then DC had sent a survey report to DDA, in which it was clearly written that 95 per cent of the area in Sadar Bazar is commercial."

( With inputs from ANI )