CAIT writes to PM seeking amnesty scheme to protect Delhi traders from sealing drive

Industry body CAIT has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an amnesty scheme to protect more than 10 lakh traders from the "onslaught of sealing" in the national capital.

In a letter to Modi, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said traders welcome the move of regularising unauthorised colonies in Delhi.

CAIT said it has urged the prime minister to announce "an amnesty scheme with a cut-off date to protect more than 10 lakh traders from the onslaught of sealing which traders are facing since last 13 years".

The regularisation of 1,731 unauthorised colonies in Delhi will not only benefit more than 40 lakhs people but will also protect more than 3 lakh very small shops of people of poor strata working in these colonies for earning their daily livelihood, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in the letter.

The traders, he said, have been compelled to request the prime minister to announce an amnesty scheme on the pattern of regularising the unauthorised colonies.

Under such amnesty scheme, business establishments in Delhi as on December 31, 2019 should be given status quo and all shops sealed should be de-sealed, his letter said.

For structured development of the shops falling under amnesty scheme, separate development norms could be formed and regularisation of all such shops may be done against reasonable charges under the supervision of a special task force, he suggested.

"Khandelwal lamented that the monitoring committee constituted by the Supreme Court has framed its own rules instead of following the mandatory provisions of MCD Act, 1957. It is estimated that more than 7,000 shops are sealed in Delhi since 2007 and every effort to de-seal the shops is vehemently turned down by the Monitoring Committee without any logic.

"Even the efforts of Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Urban Development, for amending the Master Plan 2021 are not being obeyed by the Monitoring Committee. Such amendments, which have already taken legal shape, could provide relief from sealing to lakhs of traders," the body said.