Park is Freedom for police: Spared of traffic control

Park is Freedom for police: Spared of traffic control
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore City Corporation’s (BCC) ambitions of developing a ‘Freedom Park’ in the Old Central Jail area have been cut short, thanks to Chief Minister Dharam Singh announcing that 6 acres of the land would be reserved as a venue to hold public protests and political rallies.

The Government handed over the 22 acres to the civic body in 2002 during S M Krishna’s regime, going against the demands of the real estate lobby which had wanted a joint venture commercial complex there.

The BCC then sat on the project for over three years and now the park has been made an area for agitating mobs to make a political point.

BCC Commissioner K Jothiramalingam told this website's newspaper that he was helpless in this regard. "It is Government land to begin with and in its wisdom the Government has decided to park protesters on that land. We will just have to abide by the order," he said.

The fallout of the decision will be quite horrifying: Vehicles will be parked helter skelter, crowds will stamp over the greenery and food packets will litter the park. Only the traffic police will be happy as the roads will be free of protest marches.

Additional Commissioner (Law and Order) Kishore Chandra said, "Demonstrations were to be held in Cubbon Park but a High Court order banned this. The protesters then started to throng the roads and we made a request to the Government to provide land for rallies. We are happy that the Government has addressed this issue."

But what about the resultant congestion of the nearby Maharani Circle which has a high traffic intensity? DCP-Traffic (East) M A Saleem said that it would not be a major problem as the protesters will not be allowed onto the streets.

"The protests and rallies will be within the premises and it is always easier to manage things at one place rather than have protesters march on the roads," he said.