It is sad that one hand we witnessed the sealing drive as per the Supreme Court’s Monitoring Committee decision but on the other hand there has been rampant illegal construction across Delhi. I am not against sealing, but rules and human aspects cannot be ignored. A 35-year-old tailor from Bihar, reeling under financial crisis after his owner’s shop was shut down in the sealing drive, committed suicide in northwest Delhi’s Keshavpuram. Several instances have come forth where properties were sealed even after paying conversion charges to the MCD.

I led hundreds of traders in Sadar Bazar to voice their concerns on sealing. Later I also met Union Minister for Urban Development Hardip Puri and LG Anil Baijal to check if the sealing drive in Capital could be stopped for the time being. Thousands of businesses and families were on the brink of destruction due to sealing. Members of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee carrying out the sealing drives are not aware of ground realities and have overlooked people’s plight. Stakeholders involved with the sealing process needs to understand the resentment of the people and take immediate, corrective steps.

At the heart of the issue are multiple civic bodies and agencies, and the lack of coordination among them, which leads to a chaotic and confusing situation. We need to initiate a Mega Plan by the Centre that would help in all-round development of Delhi irrespective of roles of various civic agencies. Those responsible for allowing illegal use of space should equally be held responsible and strict action is needed against them whether they are officials or engineers.

Plus it is important to check roads based on commercial, residential or mixed land category and conversion rate must be decided accordingly. In the case of mixed land use, the construction of shopping centres must be given the same FAR as commercial areas.