Civic body, fire department grant permission for Amit Shah's rally in Kolkata

BJP President Amit Shah's rally, which is scheduled for Sunday, was on Saturday granted green signal by the city municipal corporation (KMC) and fire department.

"The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has granted permission to BJP President Amit Shah's rally tomorrow," Mayor in-council Debasish Kumar said. "We have received NOCs from both the KMC and fire services for holding the rally," state BJP (office secretary) Alok Guha Roy said. State party spokesman Ritesh Tiwari hailed it as a "moral victory" of BJP, which has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of trying to create hurdles in order to stall the rally.

The rally site was on Saturday inspected by the two special officers appointed by the Calcutta High Court to ensure compliance of fire and municipal rules. Director General of fire services Sanjoy Mukherjee and Joint Commissioner (Development) of KMC S Santra, the two special officers appointed by the HC yesterday, visited the rally site this morning. Fire services' officials, DC (central) D P Singh, BJP leaders Tathagata Roy, Alok Guha Roy and their other party colleagues also visited the rally location today.

The Calcutta High Court had on Friday appointed the two special officers to ensure compliance of fire services and municipal rules in the public meeting, observing that the government should not be rigid in the compliance of these rules while granting permission.