Karnataka

Transport Minister’s birthday leads to public woes

BANGALORE: Transport Minister R. Ashok’s visit to the Banashankari temple on Tuesday on his 51st birthday caused inconvenience to the public.

While the Minister’s visit to the temple in a big convoy led to traffic jam at the busy Banashankari junction, the bursting of firecrackers by his supporters alarmed scores of people who were stranded at the junction.

Around 9.30 a.m., Mr. Ashok, accompanied by officials and his supporters, arrived at the temple which is situated in the Padmanabhanagar constituency represented by him in the Legislative Assembly. The Minister’s cavalcade worsened the chaos on the ever-busy Kanakapura Road. To ensure free passage for the Minister’s convoy, the traffic police stopped the movement of vehicles for some time. All the vehicles in the convoy were allowed to enter the temple premises.

While the police and the angry public remained mute spectators, the deafening sounds and sparks triggered by the crackers for over five minutes terrorised the stranded motorists and pedestrians.

The sparks burnt the clothes and spotted the vehicles of the public.

Supporters of Mr. Ashok and Katta Subramanya Naidu, Minister for Excise and Information, incidentally whose birthday also falls on July 1, flooded the city with banners and hoardings to greet them on the occasion.

Incidentally, these hoardings and banners were put up barely two days after the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) meet held at National Institute of Advanced Studies on Sunday recommended to the Government to ban hoardings and banners as they spoil the beauty of the city and also lead to visual pollution.

Indeed, Mr. Ashok and Mr. Naidu, who are Ministers’ in-charge of Bangalore, had presided over two of the sessions that were held as part of the ABIDe summit.

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