Sealing: Delhi traders to open markets till midnight

A group of traders in Delhi has announced a series of protests, including keeping markets open till midnight and organising car rallies, to protest against the sealing of illegal commercial establishments in the city.
Civic bodies have undertaken the sealing drive initiated by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee on December 17 last year. The committee is sealing business establishments that are using residential properties for commercial purposes.
Commercial premises have been sealed for failing to deposit conversion charges according to provisions in Master Plan 2021.
"Markets in Delhi will remain open till midnight on March 8. Traders will burn effigy of sealing in Delhi on February 28, a day before Holi, and on March 4 we will take out car rallies in different parts of Delhi," Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal said in a statement.

The decision to hold protests was taken at a meeting of traders convened by CAIT yesterday.
Khandelwal said that by closing shops, traders have shown their resentment many times, but it will be for the first time in Delhi that traders will open their shops till midnight to register their protest against the ongoing sealing drive.
On February 28, effigies of "sealing" will be put to flames at more than 100 places in Delhi, including in Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Connaught Place, Sadar Bazar and South Extension, he said.