Karnataka High Court judges furious over traffic snarls during padayatra

Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court on Thursday ruled that no political or any other rally can be held anywhere in the city except at the designated space at Freedom Park. The court took serious objections to the disruption of normal traffic conditions due to the Padayatra organised by the Congress party in the city for the last two days and asked the government to immediately take action on banning all kinds of mass gatherings inside the city except at Freedom Park.

Taking the Karnataka government to task the High Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Rituraj Avasthi and Justice Krishnakumar on Thursday enquired how can the government allow such large scale disruption of life for the public due to some rally? The government has designated a place for such meetings at Freedom Park in the city all mass meetings must be held only at Freedom Park and nowhere else. The Court directed the government to immediately take note of it and issue orders.

The Congress padayatra on the theme 'Our water our right' ended with a bitter note with High Court giving such a ruling as the High Court annals will quote the massive traffic snarl that put the normal out of gear in the middle of the week when the traffic was at its high.

The BBMP and the police had given permission for the Congress party to hold the rally 23 kilometres inside the city creating heavy traffic bottlenecks in Palace road, Mekri circle and many other places all along the route of the padayatra. This had a chain of reactions all over the core Bengaluru area right from Mekri Circle to Basavanagudi National College circle.

Due to the stoppage of traffic at various places on Tumkur Road, Yeshwanthpur, Malleshwaram Sheshadripuram and a few more stops the effects had shown in Central Bus Terminal at Subhashnagar, Mysore road, Magadi Road, Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Hudson Circle, Shantinagar and many other places.