Delhi: SDMC seals 4 liquor shops in Najafgarh over building violations

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) sealed four liquor shops in Najafgarh on Friday, citing violations related to building norms.

“Teams from the corporation have been inspecting liquor shops and we will continue to take sealing action if any irregularities are found,” SDMC mayor Mukesh Suryan said.

Satpal Malik, the chairman of the Najafgarh zone, said that the sealed liquor shops are located in Kakrola, Nangli, Sakrawati and Rajapuri areas.

Over the last three weeks, the three municipal corporations have been carrying out special drives to check the documents of liquor shops opening in the city according to the new excise policy. All three corporations have passed resolutions against the new excise policy during the last month. Last week, the north corporation said that five liquor vends were sealed while notices were issued to 18 units. The north MCD building department teams sealed three liquor shops in Civil Lines and one outlet each in Karol Bagh and Rohini.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) also sealed three liquor outlets on December 10, 2021, while citing Unified Building Byelaws (UBBL) violations in C-Block DDA market, Dilshad Garden and GTB Enclave where eleven DDA shops were merged to create three liquor shops without any approval from the municipal corporation.

Delhi moved to a new excise regime from November 17, 2021. Both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have opposed the new excise policy over the last month while Aam Aadmi Party functionaries have repeatedly argued that the parties are trying to deflect attention from the misgovernance in the BJP-led municipal corporations.