Post Mayapuri Violence, Delhi Traders Threaten to Boycott LS Polls

About 14 people were injured in the violence that followed a DPCC sealing drive at Mayapuri.

Traders in Delhi protest against the sealing drive by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Delhi police. File image.

(Photo: PTI)

Two days after the violent sealing drive in Delhi's Mayapuri that left 14 officials, including an ACP, injured, workers from the scrap market in the national capital have called for a boycott of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in protest, The Indian Express reported.

The sealing drive on Saturday, 13 April, came after a National Green Tribunal order on Thursday, 11 April, questioned the Delhi government’s failure to curb pollution emanating from factories in Mayapuri.

The Delhi Police, without making any arrests in the matter yet, was quoted by The Indian Express as saying that it held meetings with local police stations to decide a strategy to deal with any protests that take place.

A motor parts trader to The Indian Express that there have been raids in the past where tonnes of scrap has been seized and nobody objected.

“But why beat us…do they have no shame? Many of us will not be voting this election. Clearly no party can save us from sealing.”

Gurpreet Singh, motor parts trader as quoted by <i>The Indian Express</i>

There has not been a formal announcement about the boycott from the Mayapuri Traders Welfare Association. According to reports, they are waiting for relief from the NGT. If all measures fail, they are considering moving the Supreme Court, TIE report further said.

‘Delhi Environment Minister Not Consulted,’ Says Will Act Against DPCC

Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain, on Sunday, 14 April, also threatened to take "strict action" against Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) officials who were present at Mayapuri on Saturday, to ensure that the shops breaching regulation were sealed, TIE reported.

At a press conference, Hussain said that he was kept out of the loop regarding the sealing, ordered by the NGT.

“I want to know under whose instructions they were there? They did not inform me nor did they take my approval. I am the Environment Minister, how was I bypassed? I will write to the L-G, telling him to take strict action against DPCC officials who were involved, irrespective of their post or seniority, as they proceeded to Mayapuri without the approval of the minister,” Hussain was quoted by TIE as saying.

The DPCC comes under the Environment Ministry and is a part of the seven-member Special Task Force formed on the NGT’s orders to take action against “illegal and unauthorised scrap industries in Mayapuri”, The Indian Express report further said.

The Delhi government also hit out at the ruling BJP and the Centre saying that the ultimate blame lays with the Centre as the centrally governed Delhi Development Authority failed to give land for the relocation of the Mayapuri scrap yard.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on also accused the Centre of bypassing the Delhi government in conducting a sealing operation in Mayapuri area that led to violent clashes between the traders and the security personnel.

Sisodia lashed out at Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for blaming the Aam Aadmi Party government for the violence in west Delhi, saying the responsibility of land allocation was with the Centre.

“Delhi Police is yours, SDM is yours, NGT is yours, DDA is yours and we are blamed. They should have some shame and take accountability for their actions.”

Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi

At least 14 officials, including an ACP, were injured after clashes broke out in West Delhi's Mayapuri on Saturday, 13 April, in the midst of a sealing drive.

(With inputs from The Indian Express)