‘Agriculture land used commercially’: 30 Chhatarpur shops sealed during drive

Maintaining that the corporation has not sealed shops operating out of a 200 square metre area, Sehrawat said she has met Union Minister of State (Housing and Urban Affairs) Hardeep Singh Puri and members of the SC-appointed committee and requested them to postpone the December 31 deadline to pay the conversion charges. “The minister has promised that he would talk to the committee to see if the last day of payment can be postponed,” she said.

Shikha Rai, Leader of House, SDMC, said Puri has also promised to notify a new rate for conversion charges, which will be less than the current Rs 89,000. On Tuesday, the SDMC had also sealed a farmhouse in Chhatarpur that was being used for organising social functions.

“On the instructions of the SC-appointed monitoring committee, the Buildings department of the south zone sealed a farmhouse as it had additional build-up area,” a senior SDMC official had said. Meanwhile, political furore over the issue continued, with AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj saying, “The BJP knows that it doesn’t have to worry about elections for another five years. The Supreme Court-appointed committee is merely acting as a tax collector for the BJP-led corporations in the city. For instance, it is not concerned with creating more residential spaces — it is merely focussing on collecting these charges, so that the MCD can fill its coffers with crores.”

The SDMC had earlier said that they would request traders to pay Rs 22,000 conversion charge instead of Rs 89,000, allowing shops to be desealed. Leader of Congress in south corporation Abhishek Dutt said, “Even the technical committee in 2012 had thought Rs 89,000 was too heavy and asked to bring it to Rs 22,000, but the BJP didn’t follow it.”