Ordinance to stop sealing, Puri blames Congress, AAP

NEW DELHI: Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri blamed the Congress and the AAP government for the ongoing sealing drive in the capital and came up with an ordinance to stop sealing. Puri said the Centre has the statutory right to amend the Master Plan and the solution to the current problem can be found within the ambit of the Master Plan.

The minister has submitted an affidavit, with proposed changes in Master plan 2021, to the supreme court on March12. Purisaid that it will mean solve the genuine problems of traders. People with FAR problem will be addressed, butpeople who have encroached upon government land will not get any relief. He added that the need of the hour was to move from the “sealing approach” to the “rectification approach”.

Puri blamed Congress and AAP for playing petty politics over sealing. “It was the congress which was in power all these years. The AAP has been in power since 2015. What they could not do in all these years, we have managed to find a solution in two months.”

Lt Governor Anil Baijal said that sealing is only taking place where firstly construction has taken place at stilts that are mandatory requirement for parking space; secondly where there is unauthorized construction; third are areas where encroachment has taken place on government land or where it has happened on forest department land.