The Pioneer 09.12.2010
Residents protest against sealing, assault councilorStaff Reporter | New Delhi
The residents of the Laxmi Nagar area of East Delhi on Wednesday reportedly manhandled area councillor Sohan Lal. They were annoyed with the sealing drive initiated by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). To register their protest, they also tried to block the traffic on the busy Vikas Marg.
After the building collapse incident in the area in which 70 people died, the MCD surveyed unauthorised constructions in the area. MCD officials sealed 19 buildings in Laxmi Nagar, including Lalita Park, which violated the permissible limit of 15 metre hight. The corporation also razed several properties in Guru Angad Nagar, Geeta Colony and Gandhi Nagar area.
“The whole buildings were not sealed. Only the fourth or fifth floors of buildings which were above the permissible 15 metre were targeted,” a senior official said. However, the drive was marred by violence in the area with a group of building owners allegedly manhandling MCD councillor Sohan Lal in a park in Lalita Park.
Speaking about the incident, Sohan Lal, a Congress Councilor from Krishan Kunj ward said when a team of the MCD official arrived to seal properties in the morning; a few residents came to me and requested me to interfere. “I tried to convince them that I will not be able to help much because it is court order. But as they insisted, I visited the site, where the sealing drive was going on. I requested the MCD official to seal only those buildings having fifth and sixth floor and came back,” he said.
The coporator further added but a worker of political party and a few bad characters of the area provoked people and attacked me and my security guard. “He was unhappy because his property was also sealed by the MCD. They battered my head with bricks. Later, I was shifted to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and after treatment, I was discharged,” said he. A senior police official said a case of hurt has been registered in connection with the incident.
