CHENNAI: A month after an RTI was filed by a local activist, advertising hoardings have come down on the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam link road.
However, the RTI filed by David Manohar, a local activist, on July 2 had merely asked the Highways Department as to how many unipole advertisement hoardings had been erected along the stretch and the tender procedure for the erection of such hoardings in highways land.
Even after a month, Manohar hasn’t received a reply to his queries, but some of these hoardings were dismantled by a crane last week. These recent events, though a step in the right direction, raise suspicions as the RTI in no way questioned the legality of the hoardings.
Manohar had earlier filed an RTI in 2016 asking the Highways Department whether permission was given to private contractors to erect unipole advertisement hoardings. The reply from the department clearly stated that no such permission had been given. “When they had said no such permission was given, it means all these hoardings are illegal but have continued to exist,” says Manohar. “This follow up RTI asking as to how many hoardings are there will nail the department for being oblivious of private entities using their land to make profits. The recent dismantling of the hoardings is just a face-saving measure,” he says.
Locals allege that a single crane had been hired to bring down hoardings in the entire stretch, hinting that it may have been done by the government agency in charge. Even if a single crane had been hired as a result of a collaboration between private contractors controlling the hoardings, it seems unlikely they would have reacted without a tip-off.
Manohar noticed the first hoarding was a public interest poster by the Election Commission before the 2016 State elections. “I called the Election Commision and the hoarding was taken down the same evening when I told them they were using highways land without their permission,” he says.
Since then, 25-30 hoardings have propped up in the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam stretch. A one-side advertisement fetches a rent of `1.5 lakh per month while two-side ads fetch two times that sum. The only cost incurred by the contractor is the initial construction of the unipole and regular paint jobs. “They are erected and maintained by people with political connections,” alleges Manohar.
In 2015, it took an accident for advertisement hoardings to permanently come down at St. Thomas Mount. Rain brought a hoarding down on a car and since then, hoardings have disappeared from there. The link road has since become a hotspot for illegal hoardings.
A comparison of the figures given by the Highways Department about the number of hoardings on its land, in its response to Manohar’s recent RTI queries, and the pictorial evidence of hoardings documented by the activist would reveal the complacency of the government agency towards its land.