“If the citizens of Delhi are getting to benefit from de-sealing, why are village premises not being de-sealed,” asked members of the Delhi Gram Vikas Panchayat during a press conference on Thursday.

On January 30, the Centre had issued a notification to Delhi’s civic authorities, asking it to stop all sealing operations in the city and to start de-sealing premises closed down earlier. But the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is not de-sealing properties in villages on grounds that the provisions of the notification are applicable only to rural villages and not to the urban ones. Hence, MCD officials are not accepting applications for de-sealing in urban villages.

The notification provides a one-year moratorium, till December 2008, from sealing and demolition to unauthorised colonies, villages, farmhouses, schools, dispensaries, religious and cultural institutions and stores, warehouses and godowns, used for agricultural inputs in rural areas and built on agricultural land.

In the notification, the villages are referred to as “village abadi areas and their extensions”. The MCD has taken the matter to court, seeking a clarification over villages that should be included in the drive, thus delaying de-sealing in city villages.

Members of the Delhi Gram Panchayat appealed to the MCD to not differentiate between rural and urban villages. “A delegation of the panchayat held a meeting with Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy in connection with the issue,” said MLA Vijay Singh Lochav, who is also a member of the panchayat.

“The minister said the notification includes all villages in Delhi, whether rural or urban, and their extensions. He said the MCD has not sought any clarification in this regard. This relief has been given to all properties in village abadi areas, which include all villages of Delhi. He said no distinction has been made in so far as the category of villages is concerned,” Lochav said.

Panchayat general secretary Yudhbir Singh said if the MCD has any doubts or misunderstanding in this connection, they should seek clarifications from the Ministry of Urban Development, which has issued the notification. “They are just politicising the whole issue and delaying the matter unnecessarily by taking it to court,” he said.

“The main purpose of the notification would not be served if relief was not extended to urban villages,” said Lochav.