BJYM plans Savarkar event on NMC’s playground sans nod

Nagpur: Without permission of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activist has scheduled an event at the Sahakar Nagar playground on Sunday. The civic body has not taken any steps to stop the programme. The BJYM is the youth wing of the BJP.
According to the invitation available with TOI, Vedant Joshi, who is the joint publicity incharge of BJYM, is celebrating Gaurav Diwas to mark the 140th anniversary of Vinayak Savarkar at 6.30pm at the playground near Shri Gajanan Maharaj Temple at Sahakar Nagar. Top BJP netas will be the chief guests and address the gathering too.
NMC officials said no one has applied for permission to hold the event. However, Joshi said all permissions are in place but did not produce their copies.
In April, BJP MLA Krishna Khopde, former corporators and activists had opposed the Vajramuth Rally of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on the ground that it should not be held on a playground at Darshan Colony in Nandanvan. Khopde and BJP supporters even staged many agitations.
Congress leader Tanaji Wanve said that Khopde should also protest against Sunday’s event. “We will felicitate him if he cancels the programme organized by his party workers. We have given Khopde all rights to protest events. He should stage an agitation for the programme which has no permission,” he said. The Congress had got Nagpur Improvement Trust’s permission to hold the event last month.
Khopde said he had opposed the MVA rally “as it was a political programme”. “The Sahakar Nagar event is not a political programme. Playground gets damaged only during political programmes,” he said.
As per some Sahakar Nagar residents, children regularly use the playground. “Vacations are on, so children can be seen in large numbers. NMC should not give permission for such events here. Tall grass and weed are growing in some parts of the ground, the NMC should look at maintaining the ground,” they said.