Dissent not allowed today, protest is illegal: Preeti Sunderajan

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Preeti Sunderajan, a member of Citizens for Sankey, noted the many flaws in the Sankey Road widening and flyover project, one among which is the project contradicting the National Green Tribunal judgment, which imposes a buffer zone of 75 metres for lakes and wetlands that will be a no-construction zone.

She added that the Sankey movement has been able to grow to such heights only through the convention of concerned citizens and stressed on keeping citizens correctly informed in order to mobilise such movements.

She spoke of the struggles Citizens for Sankey has gone through in order to put the project on hold – obtaining the detailed project report (DPR), which was unavailable in the public domain and acting swiftly as the project was already at the bidding stage. Speaking about the FIR on citizens who led the Sankey walk, Preeti said, “Dissent is not allowed and protest is illegal,” adding that multiple attempts were made to obtain permission from the police but were futile, leading them to “do it and face the consequences.”

She said that the most recent development on the issue is a letter being submitted to Pratap Reddy, the Commissioner of Police, regarding the unjust FIR. Preeti also spoke upon the #footpathbeku campaign, which hoped to make streets centred around pedestrians