No rally, dharna without prior permission: Patna DM

Patna: The district administration is to act tough against protesters who take out rally or stage dharna without taking prior permission. Patna DM Abhay Kumar Singh has issued an order in this regard and it will be effective from Monday.
Now, any organization having political or religious background will have to take permission from the authorities concerned 48 hours prior to the rally or dharna.“People have the democratic right to protest, but not at the cost of disturbing other citizens. All the highly sensitive places are prohibited zone. Similarly, public representatives live in those earmarked zones. This initiative will help the administration maintain law and order in the city by making required arrangements,” the DM said.
“Apart from the VVIPs’ safety, it will also help in maintaining smooth vehicular traffic. If the traffic is disturbed once during the busy hours of a day, it takes several hours to bring it back to normal. As a result, common people and school students have to suffer. FIR will be lodged and stringent action will be taken against anyone holding a rally or staging a dharna without prior permission,” he said.
The rally or dharna organizers in the town areas will have to take permission from the Patna district control room while others will have to take permission from the respective SDPOs. The organizers will have to mention in their application about the start and end time of their rally or dharna, expected number of participants and the route.
A section of police force will be deployed at the district control room as response team to handle any emergency in the city. “The forces will rush to a spot in emergency to take control of the situation before the adequate forces and officials reach there,” Singh said. Following the DM’s order, the existing communication systems of the control room are also being strengthened with installation of modern equipment.
Seven important roads have been marked as prohibited places for taking out any protest march. All the rallies and dharna will be videographed by the district administration.