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JAMMED: The JD(S) rally held the city to ransom on Monday File pic |
The government had submitted the undertaking following a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate A V Amarnath a few years ago. Amarnath had sought a direction to ensure that all rallies be outside the city, since they resulted in traffic chaos and caused a lot of inconvenience.
While accepting the petition, the High Court had expressed concern over rallies being held in the city and sought an undertaking from the state government.
The government then said it would not permit any rallies in the city. But it seems to have forgotten the undertaking in the case of Monday's JD (S) rally.
Traffic woes
The rally saw traffic jams paralysing the city for hours on end.
The worst hit were school children, some of whom reached home at night, and passengers travelling to the airport to catch their flights. Around 40 persons missed their flights that day.
The grapevine has it that JD (S) wanted to hold the rally on the outskirts of the city but decided against it since they consider Palace Grounds a lucky venue. A similar rally in 1994 was followed by victory at the polls.
Who is responsible?
Coming back to the case pending before the High Court, petitioner Amarnath said: "The matter is listed for tomorrow. I have moved a memo so that the matter is posted for hearing."
Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde said the authorities should be held responsible. "If the police and the local administration cannot ensure the required infrastructure for such rallies, they should not have given permission," he said.
It was the vehicles, not us: Bidari
City police commissioner S M Bidari said, "The permission for the rally was given as per the provision. We had made adequate arrangements but the huge number of vehicles entering busy areas of the city, that too at peak hours, triggered the chaos."
When asked about his plans to prevent such chaos in future, Bidari said, "I am planning to call for a meeting with the authorities concerned and we will take an appropriate decision as per police guidelines. A proposal will be sent to the government. We will implement it after its approval."
Former additional commissioner of police, Bipin Gopal Krishna, had submitted a proposal to the government to earmark places for rallies and prevent them from entering the city.
But the government has done nothing about it.
