Many shops and commercial establishments as well as a section of markets in the national capital were closed on Friday as part of a two-day Delhi trade bandh called by a leading traders’ body to protest the ongoing sealing drive against shops and business establishments violating civic norms in the city.

The traders are demanding that the sealing be immediately stopped and the government bring an amnesty scheme to protect their businesses.

The sealing drive is being undertaken by the civic bodies in Delhi on the direction of a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee. This is the second time when the traders are observing a shutdown against sealing which commenced in the city on 22 December last year.

Traders on Friday reportedly took out protest marches in a number of markets, demanding that the sealing exercise be stopped immediately. All the three major parties in Delhi, the ruling

AAP, the BJP ~ which rule all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi ~ and the Congress have extended their support to the protesting traders.
The two-day trade bandh beginning Friday ~ called by an umbrella body of traders groups,

the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) ~ affected markets in Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Sadar Bazar, Karol Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, Defence Colony, Green Park, Connaught Place, Khan Market, South Extension, Greater Kailash, and Lajpat Nagar among others.

The CAIT claimed that all wholesale and commercial markets in Delhi were shut in protest against the sealing drive.

The Municipal Corporations in north, south and central Delhi have been undertaking sealing drive against those shops which have failed to deposit conversion charges according to Delhi Master Plan 2021.

CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal claimed that during the day-long bandh there will be a business loss worth Rs 1800 crore involving a loss of revenue to the tune of about Rs150 crore to the government.

“There are multiple authorities working in Delhi with lack of coordination resulting into hampering of systematic planned development. It is demanded that to ensure timely planned development of Master Plan, the Union government should constitute a Special Task Force under chairmanship of Delhi LG and comprising of senior officials of urban development department of both Central and Delhi governments, DDA (Delhi Development Authority), MCD (Muncipal Corporations of Delhi) and Delhi Police beside having representatives from trade,” Khandelwal said.

Khandelwal also said the sealing-affected traders have been demanding that the government should bring an amnesty scheme to maintain status quo as on 31.12. 2017 and that “no penal action should be taken against any trader but offences may be compounded by introducing a compounding policy”.

The traders have also demanded that the Delhi government should immediately notify 351 roads as commercial or mixed land use, which has been pending for many years. “There should not be any sealing or penal action in ‘special area’ until a redevelopment plan is drafted and put into action,” Khandelwal said.