New Delhi, Mar 2 (KNN) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday urged Hardeep Puri, Union Urban Development Minister for granting an Amnesty Scheme under Master Plan of Delhi (MPD)-2041 for protection against sealing of shops.

“In the past the central government had regularised more than 1700 unauthorised colonies which has proved to be a major relief to people of Delhi,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in the letter.

He requested that on the same pattern, an Amnesty Scheme may also be given in MPD-2041 to protect the traders of Delhi from any further sealing of shops and the shops which have remained sealed should be de-sealed for resuming normal business activities of Delhi.

Khandelwal further said during the last 14 years all efforts were made to set right what happened in the past, however the past could not be rectified and the future also remained continuously disturbed.

“Even today after the lapse of 14 years, the Delhi traders stand at the same place where they were in 2006,” he lamented.

He pressed on the need to take actions with prospective effect and not with retrospective effect and such an Amnesty Scheme will bring relief to more than 10 lakh traders of Delhi and nearly more than 20 lakh of their employees will be assured of their livelihood.

Referring to the implementation failure of earlier Master Plans of 1962, 1981 and 2006, he said the trade of Delhi was developed by traders in an unstructured way to meet the requirements of people of Delhi. .

Khandelwal pointed out that various reliefs granted by the Central Government through due process of law were never allowed to be operative by the said Monitoring Committee with the result that large numbers of shops which could be de-sealed in pursuance of the actions of the Government are still sealed.

The traders of Delhi were denied their fundamental right of issuance of sufficient notice and time to reply, making an Appeal to Appellate Tribunal, making another Appeal before the Administrator as granted under various sections of MCD Act, 1957, he noted.

There was no occasion for any "Appeal or Daleel'' for the traders of Delhi and traders were deprived of their fundamental rights by the said Monitoring Committee, said CAIT chief.  (KNN Bureau)