Living alone in the capital is already a nightmare for senior citizens but now their retired lives could be made more troublesome by overzealous MCD officials.
House sealed by mistake in the ongoing Delhi sealing drive
NEW DELHI: Living alone in the capital is already a nightmare for senior citizens but now their retired lives could be made more troublesome by overzealous Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials. On Monday, an elderly couple was locked up in their West Delhi home for nearly five hours after the MCD officials sealed their house as part of the ongoing sealing drive in the national capital.
The couple — Madhusudan Wadhwa (76) and wife Santosh (74) — had gone off to sleep after having lunch on Monday afternoon, when they fell victim to the sweeping municipal drive. The incident came to light when the couple’s son Anil, who stays in a separate apartment, came to meet them at about 5pm.
“On finding the house sealed, I called up my parents on their mobile to enquire their whereabouts. They told me that they were sleeping in the house and got up after hearing the phone ring. That’s when I told them that their house had been sealed by the MCD,” said Anil.
What is even more startling is the fact that the couple’s house was sealed “by mistake.”
In fact, the Wadhwas, who run a small business of selling sweets, had never even received any legal warnings or notices from the MCD.
A senior official said, “the sealing officials mistook the residence for a commercial establishment in violation of local zoning laws. The incident is of gross negligence on the part of the officials who carried out the sealing procedure.”
However, MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur tried to play down the matter and tried to put the blame on the police. “Whenever a sealing drive is carried out by the MCD, we only execute the sealing orders in line with the supreme court judgment. It’s the duty of the accompanying police officials to check the premises to be sealed and ensure that nobody stays inside.”
The Wadhwa’s informed the police and the area corporator but it took five hours for the MCD officials to realise the error and de-seal the property. Delhi Mayor Aarti Mehra admitted that this was a case of “great negligence.” “We are going to take very strict action against the officers who have done this. The officials who carried out the sealing could face suspension once the inquiry report in the case is submitted,” Mehra said.
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
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