Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 3: For the sake of public safety, the government of Andhra Pradesh has prohibited holding public gatherings and rallies on roads, including national highways.
The restriction was issued following a stampede at a Telugu Desam Party event in Kandukuru last week that resulted in eight fatalities. In accordance with the guidelines of the Police Act of 1861, the prohibitory order was issued late on Monday night.
“The right to conduct a public meeting on public roads and streets is a subject matter of regulation as Section 30 of the Police Act, 1861 itself mandates,” the government noted in its order.
In the GO, Principal Secretary (Home) Harish Kumar Gupta requested that each district’s police force and administrative apparatus designate “designated places away from public roads for the conduct of public meetings, which do not hamper the flow of traffic, public movement, emergency services, movement of essential commodities, etc.”
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“The authorities should avoid permitting meetings on public roads. Only in rare and exceptional circumstances, permission for public meetings may be considered, with reasons recorded in writing,” said the Principal Secretary.
The Kandukuru event that happened on December 28 was brought up by the Principal Secretary, who also remarked that ‘having gatherings on public highways and road edges is leading to deaths and creating traffic blockages.’
He noted that it takes the police a while to stabilise the situation.
