Rally organisers holding the public to ransom

Rally organisers holding the public to ransom
The Hindu

THE HARDSHIP faced by Bangaloreans following the huge rally taken out by the Karnataka Pradesh Kurubara Sangha on Friday has once again brought to the fore the demand for banning processions in the central parts of the city.

For several hours, traffic was thrown out of gear in the central areas of the city following the procession taken out by the sangha to protest against the demolition of the Kanaka Gopura at Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi. Motorists, pedestrians, and commuters in buses and autorickshaws were stranded on the roads for hours.

The Commissioner of Police, S. Mariswamy, says lack of a designated place for holding rallies is the main cause of traffic jams during rallies. "We have to provide a place close to the Vidhana Soudha for staging rallies. The suggestion made by the city police to designate the old Central Prison premises on Seshadri Road for holding such meetings has been turned down," he adds.

Huge processions, which are taken out frequently in the city, often cause inconvenience to the public. Three massive rallies — by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Anganwadi Workers' Association and Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Association — on August 2, 2004, disrupted traffic for nearly five hours.

Bangaloreans still remember how thousands of students appearing for the Common Entrance Test on May 2, 2000 were unable to reach their examination centres on time because of eight processions that were taken out on that day.

`Onus on police'

While the people feel that the police should stop giving permission for holding rallies, the police say that they can do little, as the protest marches are an integral part of a democratic system.

Most of the processions originate from Chikkalalbagh or Banappa Park and pass through the busy Mysore Bank Circle, K.G. Road, Hudson Circle, K.R. Circle, G.P.O. Circle and Gopala Gowda Circle. Traffic jams in these busy areas often cause snarls in the surrounding areas such as J.C. Road, Seshadri Road, Palace Road, Kengal Hanumanthaiya Road, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, Lalbagh Road, Kasturba Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road, St. Marks' Road, Residency Road, Sankey Road, T. Chowdiah Road and Cunningham Road.

Around one lakh vehicles pass through Hudson Circle every hour during peak time. One can imagine the situation if traffic at this busy junction is blocked for hours as it happened during a rally organised by a major political party in 2003.

While the public wants the police to take some steps to divert vehicles and avoid traffic jams during processions, senior police officials say this is not always possible. "There are no parallel roads in the busy areas where we can allow processions on one road and divert vehicles to the other," a traffic official says. Moreover, diversion of vehicles during rallies is difficult as no procession starts on time. The official suggests that organisers of processions be told to inform the police at least 10 days in advance, so that ways to prevent traffic jams can be worked out. "The organisers should be made to provide the route map and timings of processions and adhere to them. Stringent punishment should be awarded to those who fail to do so," the official suggests.