CHENNAI: Though officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation sprung into action and began removing illegal banners in the aftermath of Subashri’s death, nothing has been done to get rid of posters and paintings that continue to deface and obliterate the walls in public places.
Serving as free advertisement spaces, thousands of posters have been pasted at bus stands, railway stations, public walls, bridges and roads.
For instance, the Mint Bridge in North Chennai has been dotted with DMK wall paintings while beneath the bridge, numerous wall-posters of an AIADMK leader occupy the walls.
Apart from roads, bus stands bear the brunt of an indiscriminate pasting of posters. Numerous bus stands including Elephant Gate, Pencil Factory, and Washermenpet are filled with wall posters. Even newly built Metro Rail corridors have not been spared.
At several places in North Chennai, CMRL barricades are plagued with layers of torn posters of local MLAs. In medians at Anna Salai, posters of other political parties are exhibited. Apart from defacement, after rains the posters get smudged and become blocks that fall into stormwater drains. Though the ‘poster culture’ in Tamil Nadu has been is not new neither politicians nor film actors have asked their cadre or fans to stop encroaching on public space. A former local body member of a party said the posters are normally plastered by local cadre of each division.
‘’The money is collected from local donations and poster boys wake up as early as 3 am to go around pasting them. This is done mostly to catch the attention of MLAs or MPs visiting an area. It helps the local cadre get promoted within party and sometimes even a ticket to contest local body elections,’’ said P Murthy, a former ward secretary. Corporation officials told Express that they have been ideating to structurally change walls in public places to prevent posters and paintings. “We have earmarked certain localities where we might add spikes using cement. It would act as a regulatory measure,’’ said official.