Officials seal a shop at the basement of a commercial complex at Sakchi in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 16: Basements of five more commercial buildings were sealed during a drive that entered its fifth day today. With this, the number of buildings sealed in the steel city has reached 19 and the number of shops 131.

A team comprising officials of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee, executive magistrates and policemen today started the drive from Shatabdi Towers in Sakchi, where 17 shops were sealed.

The team then headed for Shopper’s Square in the same area, where 14 shops — most of which were garment and footwear shops — were closed. At Indu Bhawan, another commercial complex, 19 shops had to face the music. Next, basements of two more commercial complexes — Suraj Tower and Ashoka Inn — were targeted. Four shops buildings were shut down.

Sub-divisional officer of Dhalbhum Sunil Kumar Sinha confirmed that so far, 131 shops had been sealed.

“We are now concentrating in Sakchi and have issued notices to erring builders. We will also target other areas like Bistupur, where a survey on misuse of basements and other building deviations is on,” he told The Telegraph.

According to Sinha, the district administration will also look into the complaints lodged by the public against misuse of basements. “So far, we have been carrying out the drive suo motu,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sunil Kumar, the district magistrate who looks after legal affairs, went to Ranchi and filed a status report on the anti-encroachment and basement ceiling drives at Jharkhand High Court.

Later, Kumar told reporters that the high court was satisfied with the steps initiated by the East Singhbhum district administration. “In the status report, we mentioned that 77 shops operating from basements of 14 commercial buildings had been sealed till Tuesday. We also informed the court about the progress of the anti-encroachment drive that has been undertaken at Ramjanam Nagar on Marine Drive to make way for an approach road for the Adityapur toll bridge,” he said.

On Ramjanam Nagar, the SDO said the second phase of eviction drive was completed today and the area required for construction of the approach road had been made free of illegal structures.

“The vacated land has been handed over to the Adityapur Toll Bridge Company Limited,” he said.

Meanwhile, a delegation of traders under the banner of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry met East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Himani Pande, complaining about anomalies in the basement ceiling drive.