V Hanumantha Rao files plea against shifting of protest site

HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader and former MP V Hanumantha Rao moved the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday, seeking directions to the Telangana government to give permissions for holding peaceful dharnas/hunger strikes/processions and public meetings within the limits of Hyderabad city, including Dharna Chowk near Indira Park.

Rao filed the PIL with a plea to the court to declare as arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional the action of the respondent authorities in not permitting dharnas and other protest programmes in the city particularly at Dharna chowk near Indira Park. 

Stating that the authorities were thinking of shifting the Dharna Chowk from Indira Park and were not granting permissions for dharnas and protest programmes in the city on the pretext of traffic jams and inconvenience to the public, Hanumantha Rao told the High Court that ‘Dharna Chowks’ are located centrally in all the metropolitan cities and state capitals, and urged the court to issue directions to the government authorities to allow the existing Dharna Chowk at Indira Park.

The PIL is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday.