Delhi: Traders protest sealing drive, demand 'desealing'

Saturday marked one year since the sealing drive was imposed in the national capital. To mark the occasion, around 1,000 businessmen from across Delhi who bore the brunt of the exercise, gathered at Defence Colony, one of the prime shopping hubs of the city. They mourned the sealing drive, saying it has shut thousands of businesses and rendered lakhs jobless.

Traders, united under the Local Shopping Complex Association, pressed for desealing of their shops. The sealed drive was called by the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee in December last year.

Aggrieved businessmen demanded that they be allowed to reopen their shops, and claimed the monitoring committee has "illegally" sealed their shops. Jagdish Gupta, secretary, Defence Colony Market Association, said, "The market falls under the commercial use zone. Hence, as per law, we cannot be sealed nor can the monitoring committee ask us to pay conversion charges."

He added that Christmas is one of the peak seasons to do business, but in the last one year, traders in Meherchand Market, Rajinder Nagar and Sunder Market have not been able to run their houses, let alone earn profits. "This is not just our loss; it's the loss of the government too that is losing out on revenue that can be generated from sales and GST, besides rendering lakhs of people jobless," rued Gupta.

They Said It

• The traders say the sealing drive is illegal, since the market falls under commercial use zone. 
• Christmas is one of the businest seasons, and the sealing drive is leaving lakhs jobless, they said.