Delhi Congress set to intensify stir against sealing

The Asian Age.

Metros, Delhi

He alleged that people who refused to pay bribes were being pressurized by officials to pay conversion charges with 54 per cent surcharge.

Ajay Maken

New Delhi: The Delhi Congress is all set to intensify its agitation against the ongoing sealing drive with the party declaring to hold a massive rally in Tri Nagar on Sunday to mount pressure on the authorities to put an i9mmediate end to the drive in the national capital.

Party’s convener of the anti-sealing drive and senior leader Mukesh Sharma said on Friday that drive had not only rendered lakhs of people jobless but had also started to take an emotional toll of the affected people. Quoting area residents, he said one of the labourers recently committed suicide because of the illegal sealing drive. Though he said that his party was against such extreme acts, he also appealed to people to refrain from indulging in such acts.

Mr Sharma accused the AAP government and the BJP-led municipal corporations for sealing those industrial units which were already in industrial areas in violation of the rules. He alleged that people who refused to pay bribes were being pressurized by officials to pay conversion charges with 54 per cent surcharge.

Demanding regularisation of areas having 70 per cent industrial units, Mr Sharma said when a decision was taken to make 2,000 roads commercial, it was also decided that no conversion charge would be levied on industrial units after 10 years. “Now the decision has been overturned as people are being forced to pay conversion charges with 54 per cent penalty.”

Mr Sharma said when Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken was the Urban Development Minister, he had broken the seal  of an industrial unit  with a hammer and later  Congress government  had brought in a notification  to save non-polluting  household industries and shops from the sealing drive. He  said that his party will leave no stone unturned  to provide relief to over 25 lakh people affected by the illegal sealing

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