India's capital city isn't in capital conditions. The Supreme Court of India has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to demolish and seal all shops around residential areas.

This is in accordance with the Master Plan 2021 that most of delhi has grossly and illegally ignored till now.

At the moment though, there is a high amount of resistance from the trading community, as understandeably their means of livelihood(albeit illegal for all this while) is suddenly gone. There has been a certain amount of gloom in the air. Angry demonstrations, road jams, and forcible breaking open of the seals despite strict directives to the contrary are the norm. Most consumer companies also closed their financial year on a low note due to these impending clamp-downs.

The apex court of the country has passed such orders earlier as well, having got implemented the CNG as the fuel to use in public buses within a month, about the no-contest order for buildings in the line of Delhi-Metro. This has been widely appreciated as Delhi has steadily gained aeons in infrastructure compared to the other cities in india.

However, this time there is a rumour rife on the streets that much bribing has happened and the purpose might not be so noble after all. The answer, on the very surface is not very evident, unless one spends a bit of time with the economics of the situation. Over the last few years, delhi and the national capital region has seen an explosion in the number of malls opening(at the time of writing this, there are still about 43 in the pipeline in the next two years). Also, there has been an equal loss of interest in the consumer as well as the dealer lobby. Where would the malls find willing buyers?

Now, the result of the sealings is that those shop-spaces that had been unoccupied for the last ten years and were not finding takers at 8 lakhs are completely sold out at 50-60 lakhs going rate. The mall prices for space over the last one month have jumped more than 250%.

Whatever the reality, the face of delhi is set to change. And with the Metro having already changed much of what was taken for granted about Delhi, expect a "New" Delhi the next time you drop in.

It has also generated a fair bit of heat in the blogspace: here, here and here.