In a relief to the TRS, the Hyderabad High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of the petition which claimed that the mega TRS party meeting scheduled for September 2 will cause damage to the environment.
The TRS had announced that it will be conducting a massive party meeting on September 2 on the outskirts of Hyderabad to highlight the achievements of its governance in the past four years.
The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate and environmentalist Poojari
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the bench comprising Justices Rangarajan and Durga Prasad directed the government to conduct the event without causing inconvenience to the general public and also see that the emergency services were not affected.
The bench also asked the Rachakonda police if they had given permission to the event, to which the police replied in the negative. The court then directed the police to submit the proceedings of the permission to them during the next hearing, which will be held on September 7.
The event, Pragathi Nivedana Sabha, will be held at Kondara Kalan and an area of 2,000 acres has been identified to accommodate around 25 lakh people.
Around 25,000 people are expected to arrive for the meeting from each constituency.
Sreedhar, in his petition, had also questioned whether the ruling party had misused its power and helped in conducting such a large event.
“They have cleared close to the 2,000-acre area and uprooted several saplings, which is ironic to their political position of planting trees through Haritha Haaram programme. My concern is that lakhs of people from several districts would turn up to the event, which of course would cause traffic problems and affect the emergency services. Food would also be provided at the event, who will clear that garbage? There is a risk of a disease outbreak. So, I had approached the court to seek the government and police’s response,” Sreedhar told TNM.
The meeting venue abuts Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (ORR) and around 15 approach roads, including one 200-feet road and four 100-feet roads, are being laid to ensure faster movement.
Earlier, when questions were raised if government funds were being used for the meeting, TRS leader and Nizamabad MP K Kavitha had said, "The entire expenditure is borne by the party's funds. Even if the state government's services are used anywhere, we will pay them back from the party exchequer."
The TRS also said that the main dais could accommodate up to 600 people and around 1,500 acres were also being developed with 16 parking lots to accommodate 1 lakh vehicles.
The party added that adequate care is being taken to construct toilets and set up drinking water counters and 5,000 volunteers are being trained to help law enforcement agencies to regulate and guide the people thronging the meeting.