BENGALURU: Traffic and parking woes have reached even Vidhana Soudha as members of the Legislative Council drew the attention of the Chairman and requested him to direct the government to resolve the issue. The discussion led the members to debate the misuse of vehicle passes and even power brokers entering Vidhana Soudha.
BJP MLC DS Arun raised the issue in the Upper House on Monday and said it has become difficult for MLCs to find a parking space for their official vehicles in Vidhana Soudha and Legislators’ House. He noted that even the movement of vehicles on the premises of Vidhana Soudha had slowed down as many private vehicles are being given entry.
MLCs TA Saravana, Shashil Namoshi, Narayanaswamy and others joined him saying that the situation was so bad that they had to park their vehicles elsewhere and enter Vidhana Soudha. They also said vehicle passes were being misused rampantly and that was also a reason for the chaos.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H K Patil agreed to it and said middlemen were misusing the names of legislators and getting passes, to which BJP MLC Muniraju Gowda PM quipped that the minister should specify which middlemen were entering Vidhana Soudha and asked whether they were involved in transferring officers. Patil replied that it was a known fact that all types of middlemen, including power brokers, come to Vidhana Soudha. This is not new and he will give a list of such people if the MLC wants.
The minister promised that all efforts will be made to put an end to the menace while the chairman said all stakeholders, including the police, will be called to his office and the issue will be resolved.
Security tightened
Following Friday’s incident of a security breach in which a man gained entry into the Legislative Assembly and was caught sitting on an MLAs seat watching the budget presentation, security has been tightened at Vidhana Soudha. Police stopped all vehicles entering the premises and allowed only those having a valid vehicle pass. A woman employee of the secretariat was found carrying a knife and it was seized by the security personnel.