Sealing drive resumes, little opposition from traders

The controversial Supreme Court-ordered sealing of illegal commercial establishments resumed today with little opposition from traders. The drive targeted shops in posh South Delhi areas.

At the political level, the sealing had its repercussions, with Union minister and noted lawyer Kapil Sibal coming out against it and 19 Congress members of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which is spearheading the drive, resigning.

Teams of MCD officials, backed by a strong contingent of Delhi police and para-military forces, began the sealing drive that was discontinued almost 50 days ago following violence in an East Delhi locality which claimed five lives.

Working under the stern directions of the Supreme Court that had rejected pleas of the Centre, the Delhi government and the MCD for deferring the drive, the sealing teams launched the operations on a sudden note, with the court-appointed monitoring committee giving them the list of shops only at the eleventh hour to avoid trouble.

However, there was not much resistance from the affected traders who were apparently reconciled to the situation, with the result that there was no law and order problem or traffic jams that were witnessed during last week's traders' bandh.

While 171 premises were sealed, the operations are expected to continue till they cover most of the 44,000 establishments which had undertaken to close their business.