UP govt asks parties to pay for damaged public property

 According to the new guidelines issued on Wednesday, the organisers must seek prior permission from the district administration concerned before holding demonstrations and would also have to assure that the protests would be peaceful.

The government could recover the cost of the damage to public property from the parties in the form of revenue arrear if they fail to pay the same and could also initiate legal proceedings against the organisers, official sources said.

Defending the move, a government spokesman said that the decision had been taken to ensure that the public is not put to inconvenience owing to agitations and also safeguard the public property from being damaged.

The guidelines came in the wake of the recent agitation by ‘jat’ community demanding reservation in central jobs and also the proposed ‘anti-corruption’ rallies by Anna Hazare and his supporters in the state.

The ‘jats’ had occupied rail tracks for several days  causing loss to the tune of crores to the Railways.

The Congress, BJP and the Samajwadi Party have taken exception to the new guidelines and said that they were undemocratic and unconstitutional. They demanded the guidelines be withdrawn forthwith.