the goan I network
MARGAO
Even as reports did the rounds that certain people in power were trying to persuade the district authorities to issue permission for the Shivaji Jayanti rally to enter Margao city, the police has said that it is for the district Collector, South to take a call on the rally route.
District Police chief, South Arvind Gawas, when contacted, told The Goan that the police has made certain suggestions to the district Collector vis-à-vis the Shivaji Jayanti procession scheduled on February 19, adding that it is purely for the district Collector to take a call.
“After assessing the ground reality, the police has suggested particular routes for the Shivaji rally on February 19. It is for the district Collector to take a call on the matter,” SP Gawas said, while pushing the ball in the court of the district authorities on the sensitive issue.
So far, the district Collector, Agnelo Fernandes has not come out with any decision on the question of the procession route, even as reports said that the district authorities are being approached from the State capital to allot the original Margao city route.
Collector Agnelo was not available for comment on the sensitive issue, but authorities, including the police in private insist that the procession should not enter the city given the decision taken by the district authorities not to allow any rallies in the city from the traffic point of view. In this connection, a senior police official recalled that the district authorities had shifted the Julus procession of the Muslim community in November last.
At the meeting held with the organisers of the Shivaji Jayanti, the police has made it clear that the rally will not be allowed to enter the city in view of the decision to ban all processions and rallies from entering the city.
