Area outside Town Hall to no longer be venue of any protest

Bengaluru: The area outside the Sir Puttana Chetty Town Hall, the venue of many pro and anti-CAA protests over the last few months, will be out of bounds to any stir as the city civic body has banned any such activity, citing dip in bookings and traffic congestion.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike council passed a resolution to this effect at its meeting on Saturday, sources said.

Opposition parties protested against the resolution, noting that the subject was not even part of the agenda.

Defending the move, Mayor Gautham Kumar said that protests in front of Sir Puttana Chetty Town Hall had led to a dip in bookings by event organizers, affecting BBMP’s revenue and was also causing traffic congestion in the area.

BBMP has also communicated its decision to the city police chief and have said that protesters can state demonstrations at the Freedom Park and Mourya Circle.

The Opposition has termed the resolution as ‘undemocratic’ and done to restrict anti-CAA protests and threatened to stage protests in front of Town Hall itself to revoke it.