BENGALURU: Bengaluru’s Puttana Chetty Town Hall will no longer be the city’s natural venue for protests. A resolution to this effect was passed unopposed in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council on Saturday.“No permissions will be given to stage protests at Town Hall and the police have also agreed to this. From now on protests can only be held at Freedom Park or at Maurya Circle junction, subject to police permission and crowd size,” Mayor M Goutham Kumar said in the Council.
“Town Hall has some sanctity. People have stopped making bookings for the hall because of the protests and slogans being raised constantly. The place has some sanctity that needs to be maintained. Of late, many protests are being held there and this has also led to many traffic jams,” he added. In a meeting three days ago Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao agreed to it, he said, adding, that the decision had nothing to do with the Citizenshp Amendment Act (CAA), nor was it a political move.
“It is a democratic country and people have the right to protest, but not at Town Hall. The government had created a designated place, Freedom Park, but people made Town Hall the location to protest,” Kumar said. Smaller groups can hold protests at Maurya Circle but permission will be given by police based on the group size and protest duration. Organisers should ensure no inconvenience is posed to traffic there, he added. Off late many protests are being held at Town Hall and it has been causing a lot of inconvenience to people, police and officials. Many complaints have also been reported on this and now since it has been pointed this decision has been taken, the Mayor said.
BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said that once the passed resolution copy is obtained it will be sent to police commissioner for immediate implementation. Construction of the parking lot at Freedom Park will be completed in two months. It can then accommodate at least 5,000 people and 560 vehicles in the parking lot.