Dighalipukhuripar no ground for stir!

GUWAHATI, Dec 15: Agitating for something you do not approve? Dighalipukhuripar is not the right place to get the job done from Saturday onward. The administration is not going to give permission to stir up public opposition there anymore.

Dighalipukhuri in Guwahati is essentially a heritage site, and hence a tourist spot worth spending money into. It being used as a field for agitation by various groups, organizations and parties is something not teble. This part, the spot being near an important road and a number of educatiol institutions has its spillover effects affecting the entire ambience there.

This development has not come all of a sudden – it does have a backstory dating back to the recent past. It was on September 11 this year when the Lawyers’ Association, Guwahati (LAG) filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court against the use of Dighalipukhuripar in the city as the field of agitations. The Lawyers’ Association did make the State Chief Secretary, Kamrup(M) Deputy Commissioner, Guwahati Police Commissioner and the DCP concerned as government parties in its PIL. On the part of the petitioner, senior advocate Niloy Dutta argued before the court that set September 16 as the date for hearing of the PIL. During the hearing, Dispur submitted an affidavit signed by the Kamrup(M) Deputy Commissioner seeking three months’ time for selecting an altertive ground for agitations in the city. The high court then gave a three-month period to the government to announce an altertive ground for agitation after which no government authority would give permission for agitations at Dighalipukhuripar in the city. The three-month period expires on December 16 (Saturday). The government, however, is yet to announce any altertive site for agitations in the city. 

The Lawyers’ Association said that if Dispur gives permission for staging or holding agitations at Dighalipukhuripar any longer, it will have to drag the administration to the court again.