Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday rejected the Delhi government’s proposal to allow hotels and weekly markets to open as part of Unlock 3, resulting in another confrontation between the two entities in as many days.
The move came in the wake of Mr. Baijal’s decision to direct the Delhi government to notify a panel of lawyers suggested by the Delhi Police to represent the Delhi government in cases related to the anti-CAA protests and north-east Delhi riots in the High Court and Supreme Court.
According to sources, the Delhi government had sought the L-G’s approval to allow rehri patri businesses to operate for longer hours, the opening of hotels as well as the operation of weekly bazars in the Capital on a trial basis through the Revenue Department.
“The matter was discussed with Hon’ble Chief Minister and it was agreed that while there has been improvement, pandemic situation in the Capital continues to be fragile and the threat is still far from over. Therefore, a cautious and conservative approach is required,” Raj Niwas sources said.
“While the proposal to allow Rehari Patriwallahs to operate for longer hours w.e.f. from 01.08.2020 was approved, the proposals of opening hotels, hospitality services and weekly bazaars are deferred for the time being and would be reviewed later by the SDMA,” they also said.
Terms incorrect
The Delhi government termed this “incorrect” and offered to send the file related to these proposals to the L-G yet again. “Without getting into the details, if Hon’ble L-G is agreeable, we can send the proposal again for reconsideration. Revival of Delhi’s economy, while at the same time containing COVID, is the topmost priority of Delhi government. Hon’ble CM has always been a strong votary of opening economy,” Delhi government sources said.
The Delhi government had, on Thursday, decided to end night curfew, allow hotels and hospitality services and street hawkers in addition to weekly bazars on a trial basis with social distancing norms in place to open up the city’s economy under Unlock 3 guidelines issued by the Central government.
These decisions were in continuation of others taken by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the past few days to ensure that Delhi’s economy, which was impacted severely by the lockdown, gets back on track, the government had said in a statement.
As part of the decisions taken under Unlock 3 guidelines, the Delhi government had decided to end the night curfew that was earlier in operation from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m..
Since hotels in Delhi were no longer linked to hospitals, the Delhi government had said, it had also decided to allow “normal functioning” of such facilities and hospitality services, “permitted under Centre’s unlock guidelines.”
The AAP on Friday criticised the BJP-led Central government’s decision to not allow hotels and weekly markets to reopen in Delhi.
“It appears that the Central government under the BJP derives sadistic pleasure by inflicting pain and misery of the people of Delhi and by undermining the democratically elected government of Delhi. On behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party, I want to tell the BJP-led Central government that they should immediately stop interfering in the works of the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government. The BJP government should not interfere in the jurisdiction of the elected government of Delhi,” said AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha.
