With the Delhi police refusing to grant permission for the AAP government’s three-day grand cultural programme in Connaught Place due to “security concerns”, the city government was on Tuesday forced to cancel the event citing “bad weather” as the primary reason.
“The government has cancelled the three-day Swaraj Parv due to bad weather condition,” city’s home minister Satyendar Jain told reporters.
The Delhi police had purportedly refused to give permission to hold the event, citing security concern ahead of Independence Day.
A top government official also said the government had received a communication from the police that there may be law and order problem in New Delhi area ahead of Independence Day if the event was held. “In view of this, the government has decided not to hold the function.”
The official said that a tender was also floated to select a company to hold the programme but at the last moment, the government had to cancel the function.
Reacting strongly to the police’s move, another se-nior official said that the Delhi police had last year allowed such programme at the Central Park organised by the L-G office but this year, the police did not give permission to an elected government to do the same.
Tourism minister Kapil Mishra had Monday announced that the AAP government would celebrate Independence Day as ‘Swaraj Parv’ with a three-day grand cultural programme planned in Connaught Place starting from August 14 to August 16 and said that no passes would be required to attend such programme.
Mr Mishra had also said that all events that used to be conducted by Delhi Government’s different departments in their silos in Delhi’s remote locations have been centralised and made part of one umbrella event - Swaraj Parv.
