Hit the Nail on the Head 

Great expectations have been aroused by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. At last the crucial first steps have been taken to clean the billions of rupees worth of mess created by the builders’ mafias and property-dealing sharks, of course in collusion with those in bureaucratic pigeon holes that patronized them, and not the city of Delhi and its helpless residents. But, grant it to the anti-people elements, sitting behind all kinds of official and unofficial shelters, who are quick to bulldoze anything and everything to hide the sins of those who created the monstrous mess but want to penalize the poor citizen. If Delhi has emerged over decades as the country’s greatest metropolitan mess then the question needs to be asked as to who is really responsible for it? As ordinary citizen neither knows the complexities of the fine print clauses in the ever changing property rules and regulations of the competing authorities who always manage to take out more than a pound of flesh out of every citizen and his property through the good offices of the builder mafiasos and property sharks. 
One feels that the Urban Development Ministry and the courts both mean business and are determined to put the great development mess in Delhi into order. But can it be achieved by bulldozing billions of rupees worth of property in Delhi and sealing ruthlessly every little shop and residence, suspected of being “illegal” and “unauthorized” by the same people who, from time to time, sanctioned and authorized the construction of these magnificent buildings through the front or the back door? 
To my mind, what needs most to be bulldozed is the attitude-mountain created by the status-class, the building mafia, the property sharks and the multiple “authorities” of various kinds of complexions, generally unhealthy in thought, word and deed. 
I was born in Delhi. I have lived in Delhi all along and I have intimately seen its rape and ruin by those who would make big sums of money by hook and crook. They have tried to systematically destroy this great city, right under the nose of the greatest authority in the country. And I have my own citizen’s agenda to offer, to help the new drive acquire not only a new dimension but also a citizen friendly character. 
I would say, first of all an immediate survey of builders and property agents in Delhi should be made and rules and regulations framed and forthwith implemented to register and charter them. No unlicensed builder and property agent should be allowed to ply his trade in Delhi. He should be regulated, disciplined and watched like a chartered accountant or an architect. 
In all drives for identification of “authorized” and “unauthorized”, the monopoly should not be left with paid servants of various authorities and their “spies” and “secret agents.” People’s representatives and the representatives of the RWAS and Cooperative Group Housing Societies should be given participation in such drives so that tin hats do not destroy proof or their own sins and make this campaign also a weapon to terrorize citizens and fill their coffers. 
Several vital elements of the coming Master Plan have been indicated in the Urban Development Ministry notification but many questions have yet to be clarified to wipe out fears and suspicions from the minds of the people. There has to be a “basement policy.” If doctors and architects and lawyers can ply their “professions” from basements, why not writers, journalists and magazine editors, of course, with no printing presses? 
Again, who would provide safety and security for the sealed properties, especially for the basements under which are located the foundations of all building and over them water, power and other lines. If a fire breaks out or there is a short circuiting, who will save the sealed building? The civic authorities or the owners? If saboteurs and terrorists break such seals and make these their centers of activities, who will keep an eye on them? The question is that steps have to be taken to ensure that sealed buildings do not become Uphaar like infernos or new centers of terrorism. There should be adequate security arrangement for the sealed properties and severe punishment for those civic employees who misuse the new campaign to fulfill the old lust for exercising their absolute power for destroying the wrong property and sparing the real culprits. 
And like the Central Citizens’ Council, why not constitute a Delhi Citizens Council, which should also participate and have access to information and consultation about the “Save Delhi Campaign” of the Urban Development Ministry? 
I say, hit the nail on the head and achieve results and the people’s confidence.
Sunil Dang
Editor-in-Chief, Editorial in The Day After