Delhi sealing drive to resume on Wednesday

Caught between an unrelenting Supreme Court and agitating traders, Delhi government authorities will resume the controversial sealing of unauthorised business establishments here from tomorrow notwithstanding a 24-hour bandh by the trading community today marked by sporadic violence.

After deferring the action for over a month citing law and order situation, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was left with no option but to resume sealing after the Supreme Court came down heavily on the central government and local authorities for not restarting the drive.

"The sealing will resume from tomorrow," K J Rao, a member of the apex court-appointed monitoring committee, said after a meeting of the panel with MCD officials and the police.

Immediately after the annoucement, the traders threatened to take to streets again to strongly resist" the action in a "non-violent" manner.

"Traders will assemble on the streets in thousands to resist the sealing drive. But we will be completely non-violent", said Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

Meanwhile, the bandh was marred by stray violence as protestors damaged buses, blocked traffic and clashed with police, disrupting normal life.

Most of the markets in the capital, including wholesale marts, remained closed today.

Update at 1400 hrs:
Delhi traders clash with police, attack MCD buses

With the capital set to see the resumption of sealing of unauthorised business establishments, traders today took to the streets once again during their 24-hour bandh venting their anger on city buses, gheraoing an office of the MCD and clashing with the police.

The police used lathi-charge and teargas at Vikas Marg in East Delhi after protestors went on a rampage and pelted stones at the security personnel.

Besides damaging over half-a-dozen city buses, angry crowds broke the windowpanes of a police vehicle that was transporting some protestors who were detained from Mayur Vihar in East Delhi. The other areas that witnessed violence included Rohini, Paharganj and Green Park.

Around 1,000 people have so far been detained by police all over the city, a senior police official told PTI.

A huge demonstration by the traders at Vikas Marg in East Delhi saw the protestors going on the rampage, blocking the traffic, damaging the road divider and setting trash cans on fire.

Paramilitary forces such as ITBP and CRPF have been deployed at Vikas Marg, which is a major road connecting trans-Yamuna areas with Central Delhi.

Traders from South Delhi markets led by a number of political leaders, including Jitender Kochar of Congress, BJP's Vijay Goel and former Chief Minister Madanlal Khurana, gheraoed the MCD office in Green Park. The protestors, including the politicos, were later detained by the police.

Monitoring committee-MCD meeting inconclusive

The meeting between the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee on sealing of unauthorised commercial establishments and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today to work out the modalities for resumption of the drive, proved inconclusive.

In the wake of the SC not giving any relief to Delhi traders from sealing, the three-member court panel held a nearly two-hour-long meeting with top MCD and police officials.

Sources said the meeting discussed the prevailing law and order situation in the capital and the MCD asked for adequate security for its personnel while carrying out sealing.

The meeting is also understood to have discussed when and at what scale the sealing would resume.

The monitoring committee will again hold consultations with the local authorities in the evening.
Meanwhile, Mayor Farhad Suri has convened an all-party meeting on the sealing issue.

Updated at 1130 hrs: Faced with the imminent resumption of sealing of unauthorised commercial establishments, traders in the capital are on a 24-hour bandh today and are holding demonstrations to protest the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) action.

"All markets in Delhi are closed today, but we have excluded essential services," Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said.

There are no reports of any violence so far as traders from South Delhi surrounded the MCD office in Green Park.

The CAIT had yesterday given the bandh call after the Supreme Court refused to grant the traders any relief from the sealing drive and the Centre subsequently said it had no option but to abide by the court orders.