Arches not welcome, KPCC told

BANGALORE, Jan 12: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has been asked to exercise restraint in their welcome to Sonia Gandhi, wh...

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BANGALORE, Jan 12: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has been asked to exercise restraint in their welcome to Sonia Gandhi, who is expected to visit the city on January 15. Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) commissioner A Ravindra has warned KPCC chief Dharam Singh not to put up posters or “welcome arches” within the city limits without the BCC’s permission.

In a strongly worded letter to Dharam Singh, Ravindra has said that in spite of a similar order issued by the BCC during AICC president Sitaram Kesri’s visit recently, 86 such “welcome arches” had been put up. The commissioner has also ordered the KPCC to pay up its earlier dues of Rs 8,600, threatening that failure to do so will invite action under the Karnataka Public Places Disfigurement Act, 1981. This could mean imprisonment for six months and a fine of Rs 1,000 or both.

Speaking to The Indian Express, KPCC general secretary B A Hasanabba said, “We had initially sought permission to put up 84 welcome arches. But the police objected saying the arches would obstruct traffic. So we installed only 40 arches.”

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He said the commissioner now wanted them (KPCC) to pay for all the 84 arches for which permission was sought. It was unfair of the BCC to demand money for arches that were not put up at all, he added. “We are ready to pay the bill for the arches we actually installed. It is true that several arches were put up, but not all were put up by the KPCC. Individual politicians had also erected some,” he said.

Hasanabba alleged that the BCC had earlier granted permission to put up 84 arches in the city subject to certain conditions. But, when the KPCC wrote to Ravindra stating that they had not put up all the arches due to objections raised by the police, there was no response from the commissioner, he added. When asked if permission was sought for installing arches and putting up posters to welcome Sonia Gandhi, he said the responsibility of welcoming Sonia had been entrusted to city Congress president T V Maruthi.