HC 'no' to Indiranagar open street fest

The high court on Tuesday stalled the Open Street Festival planned in Indiranagar on January 15.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal restrained the tourism department and the BBMP from holding the event.

The festival will badly affect HAL II Stage and Indiranagar with garbage piling up, petitioner C Dinakar, retired DG&IGP, has said.

Shantinagar MLA N A Haris, who convened a meeting at the Indiranagar Club to prepare for the festival, had no business in another constituency, the petition says.
According to Dinakar, the BBMP and the tourism commissioner are promoting the festival because they are under pressure from Haris.

Government counsel V Sreenidhi contended the tourism department was neither organising nor sponsoring the event.

Indiranagar comes under the C V Raman Nagar constituency, and its MLA S Raghu recently led a rally against it.

The public-interest petition says huge amounts have been collected for the festival, but Haris has no locus standi to organise it in HAL II stage.

Quoting election affidavits for 2008 and 2013, Dinakar said Haris had acquired Rs 113 crore in just five years.

Residents of HAL II Stage should not suffer to help Haris become richer, he said.
Open street festivals are held in the West in quiet areas with little traffic. But in Bengaluru, a one-day event will result in several days of nightmare, Dinakar said.

Citizens’ oppn

Resident welfare associations had petitioned Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge to stop the open street festival on Indiranagar 100 Ft Road.

MLA S Raghu, who led a rally against it, said the government was promoting ‘pub culture’ under the guise of a street festival.