Marriage hall faces action for causing traffic chaos

Mangaluru: The licence of the wedding hall at Kallapu near Ullal may get cancelled following the traffic menace that was caused due to a programme there two days ago.
Half-a-dozen callers registered their anger against the hall with city police commissioner T R Suresh during the phone-in programme held at his office on Friday.

On Wednesday, traffic had come to a standstill in the area for three hours, with vehicles piling up for around 5km, on the Mangaluru-Kasargod NH-66. A private function had been organised on land beside the wedding hall. Scores of invitees, who had arrived at the programme, had haphazardly parked their vehicles on either side of the road, throwing traffic out of gear.

Suresh said criminal proceedings have been initiated against the owner of the hall in Kallapu. He said the police department will also recommend to the city municipal council to cancel the trade licence of the hall.

One of the callers complained to the police commissioner as to how the city police shifted responsibility to other units within the department, when he called up to register a complaint. The caller said the police at the Ullal station, whom he first contacted, directed him to take up the matter up with the traffic police. When he called the traffic police, they asked him to call up the Ullal police station citing it wasn’t their jurisdiction. On hearing this, Suresh said he will hold an internal inquiry and sensitise his men on such issues.

Suresh said such traffic snarls are the outcome of the police department not being kept in the loop about private events in the city. He said the police department will hold talks with such establishments and make them realise their duties.

Complaints against private buses, illegal parking and fish-laden trucks too were registered during the phone-in session.