New Delhi: The CBD Ground in east Delhi’s Karkardooma hosted its first protest Monday after being declared a site where people can hold demonstrations.
Its national president, BS Sharma, said the protest was organised to demand an immediate increase of Rs 75 for distributors’ commission and withdrawal of the order making PNG connections mandatory. Sharma claimed that the association had paid Rs 95,427 as the venue booking charge to DDA. About 10,000 distributors from across India came to the protest, the association said.
Police said no permission was given for Monday’s protest by the LPG Distributors Association (India). The booking receipt shared by Sharma listed the meeting’s purpose as a “social gathering”. In a letter to the organiser, Delhi Police wrote that “your dharna/demonstration proposed at CBD Ground, Shahdara, Delhi, on Oct 26 cannot be permitted in view of non-allotment of specific land on CBD Ground by DDA, despite a letter to DDA for allotment, identification of land for holding protest in CBD Ground”.
They cleaned the place and pitched a tent, after which police denied permission. Recently, Jantar Mantar was denotified as a protest site and MHA gave three venues as options for demonstration sites. These are Ramlila Maidan in central Delhi, Burari Ground and CBD Ground.