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NEW DELHI: Late on Wednesday night Anna Hazare's team accepted Delhi Police's latest proposal for holding his 'anshan' against the government's version of the Lokpal Bill from August 16 at Jai Prakash Narayan Memorial Park , next to Feroze Shah Kotla grounds .
Arvind Kejriwal told TOI that they had accepted the venue but will have to seek permission from CPWD which owns the land . The park is next to Shahidi Park where MCD had earlier planned an underground multilevel parking for the area but ASI had refused to give permission because of its proximity to the historical structures in the area.
Earlier during the day, senior Delhi Police officials held a three-hour meeting to decide upon the venue before finally zeroing in on the park . In fact, a police team was sent to inspect the park to ensure that it was suitable before the decision was made and Hazare informed . This was after Hazare's team had met Delhi Police commissioner B K Gupta on Tuesday who had asked for two days to decide on a venue . "JPN Park can accommodate 12,000 persons . The protestorscan park atthe Feroze ShahKotla parking area ," said a police officer.
The venueis right nextto a busy office area which also houses several newspaper offices . There is massive traffic dislocation and parking problems whenever Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium hosts a cricket match or a VIP is passing through . It is to be seen how the police will tackle the crowds that are bound to descend on the venue besides the media . Delhi Police had earlier ruled out Jantar Mantar saying the venue didn't have the capacity and that no single organisation could be allowedto "usurpor layexclusive claim" to it.
Besides Jantar Mantar , the activists had suggested the names of four other venues : Boat Club, Rajghat , Ramlila Maidan and ShahidiP ark , near ITO, but the cops had ruled out these options too, the official said . The Hazare team has already got an NOC from the MCD, Ramlila Maidan's land-owning agency . However , the police were not in favour of allowing Hazare's team permission to protest there as it would affect security preparations for Independence Day.