4 min readUpdated: Sep 11, 2026 08:44 PM IST
The ongoing drive follows the collapse of the five-storey building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan building which claimed seven lives. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)As part of its ongoing drive against unauthorised commercial activities, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) sealed 54 jewellery shops operating from basements across four buildings in the Kucha Mahajani area of Chandni Chowk on Thursday, leaving many traders’ gold and silver jewellery locked inside their shops.
The shopkeepers claim that MCD authorities arrived in the area around 11:30 am on Thursday without prior notice and asked them to step outside and shut their shops. The officials then stuck sealing order notices on the shutters, locked the shops, and sealed them, they added.
According to the sealing order, commercial trade was being run in the basements of these shops, which violates the permitted usage under the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021.