BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to levy fees on the agitators for protesting along the Mahatma Gandhi Marg has come a cropper. With no fee collected as yet, the BMC - all at sea about how to implement the plan, seems to have developed cold feet now. The State Assembly resumed its session on Wednesday and the MG Marg saw a sea of agitators gathering for protests but the corporation now has written to the Commissionerate Police seeking its help for collection of the fees. The latter, on the other hand, says it is unaware of any such communication.BMC had introduced this new rule on February 21 keeping in mind the huge number of agitators that gather at the MG Marg for protests and demonstrations. In a meeting, the civic body top brass resolved that demonstrators must obtain an NoC from the BMC authorities in addition to the permission from the police which is a pre-requisite. The fee was fixed at Rs 1,000 for obtaining the NoC along with the condition that protestors are not allowed to litter waste.However, the corporation has found the implementation tough. First the agitators protested the new rule, then its corporators raised a banner of protest. Collecting the fee from the dharna site has proved a tough task sending the BMC officials into a tizzy.When asked about the progress made so far in collecting the licence fee, a senior BMC official said that the matter now lies with the police. “We have written to the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) to take necessary action,” said a BMC official. Though it is still not clear as to what action police can take when it comes to protestors needing an NOC from the BMC.The police are not interested in getting into the fee collection muddle. With a number of places of the City under prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC, the agitators have just the MG Road. “How can you ask the agitators, aggrieved already, to dish out a fee of Rs 1,000 for BMC’s NoC,” said a police officer.The corporation has defended its decision by stating that the measure had been taken to keep the area clean during the protest period. The money received through the licence fee would be used to assign additional staff to clean the area, said a BMC official.
Comments
0 comment