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Sealed fate

Sealed fate two months after the Supreme Court (sc) directed the Delhi government to de-seal industrial units, owners of which were willing to give an undertaking that the premises would not be used for any non-conforming activity, not a single unit has been de-sealed as yet.

In November 2000, the state government undertook a massive, indiscriminate drive of sealing/ relocating units operating from residential and non-conforming areas. The sealing operations were carried out despite the sc order, which indicated closure of only "polluting' industries in residential areas. The office of the environment secretary of the Delhi government had issued a public notice in various newspapers on November 18, 2000, saying that all industrial units operating from the residential and non-conforming areas shall close down forthwith.

On February 9, 2001, the sc instructed the Delhi government to de-seal industries after taking an undertaking from the industrialists. In addition to this, the Delhi government also invited applications from those industrialists who felt that their units were wrongly sealed. The move to de-seal industries, however, has failed to take-off. There are many reasons for the failure

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