NEW DELHI: The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Wednesday proposed levying extra charges on licensed restaurants in the trans-Yamuna area which extend beyond their sanctioned boundaries. Thousands of such restaurants illegally set up eating areas, display food in glass showcases, and install barbecues. The chairman of the health committee of EDMC, Sachin Sharma, said, “We know that technically it is encroachment, and it cannot be legalized. But the fact is that our officers routinely organize raids on them but they always come back.”
“The day we remove their encroachments, the next day everything is back. We believe it also happens in collusion with corrupt officers. The best way out of this is to take money from such restaurant owners. At least EDMC will get some revenue out of it,” he added.The East MCD is reeling under a financial deficit of at least `3,000 crore and unable to even pay its staff, including safai karamcharis, nurses and school teachers. Last year, during a safai karamcharis’ strike in October, the Delhi Government had to bail out the municipality with advance payment of tax shares to the tune of `108 crore.
Sachin Sharma said, “We know that we have thousands of licence-holding restaurants that have spilled out of their sanctioned premises deliberately. They create traffic problems, besides generating more solid waste because of more consumers. We must take extra money from them at least to handle the mess that they create.”
At least 50,000 more restaurants and eateries operate without any licence, and the EDMC is unable to shut them due to lack of supervisory officers and health and sanitation inspectors.The health committee of EDMC is only an advisory body. Its proposal will go to the standing committee for approval, only after which will it get a final sanction.
A few officers of EDMC, however, said that this proposal could be untenable. “How can you legalise them with money when, for the same reason (encroachment), entire markets have been shut down by the monitoring committee of the Supreme Court under the sealing drive in Delhi?” asked an officer.
50,000 restaurants, eateries operate without licence
There are at least 50,000 restaurants and eateries operating without a licence in the trans-Yamuna area, and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, which is facing severe financial constraints, is unable to shut them due to a shortage of supervisory officers and health and sanitation inspectors.