Pay Rs 1,000 for staging dharna at PMG

BHUBANESWAR: From February 21, the social and political organisations along with NGOs and activists or who will want to stage dharna to press their demand before the Government they have to pay Rs 1,000 to get permission for staging dharnas, agitations and rallies at the Dharna place of Lower PMG in the city, according to a notification by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

From Tuesday onwards, staging dharna at the Lower PMG will not be free. The respective organisations would have to take permission from the Police Commissionerate’s Office and a license from the BMC office by paying Rs 1,000. The defaulters of this notification will be imposed with fine.

According to the BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, the fees will be used for the development of the Dharna place including its cleaning and to avail other facilities within the zone. The Dharna place is polluted with the unwanted materials thrown by agitators and to clean the area needs manpower and vehicles for which we need the money to appoint sweepers for cleaning the place.

But the social activists and different political and social organisations have opposed the decision taken by the BMC. Every people have fundamental rights to protest and imposing fine and monetary constraint on that is undemocratic, said some social activists of the city.

“This decision seems as Mughal emperor Aurangjev’s Jizyah tax which was imposed on Hindus, now this Jizyah tax by BMC on the poor exploited those are deprived of their basic right come to the Lower PMG square to air their demands and grievances before the Assembly, which is ridiculous,” said president of Odisha unit of Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera demanding withdrawal of the decision.