TIRUCHY: With no proper warning boards for vehicles passing by the National Highway (NH) flyovers, artists employed to paint party names and symbols on the bordering walls put themselves at great risk of accidents. One such incident occurred on Friday when K Jayachandran, a biker, collided with an artist on the Tiruchy-Chennai NH flyover bordering the wall near Senthaneerpuram.
The artist, however, escaped with minor injuries. Noting that it is common to see painters at work on bordering walls with no safety precautions, Jayachandran remarked, "Without warning boards to alert vehicles, the painters put themselves in danger." K Dhanapal, one of several artists working on the NH walls, said that most assignments would be to inscribe the names of political parties and leaders.
"We can't demand warning boards from those who give us work for only a few hours. If an accident occurs during the work, it is up to us to face the consequences," he lamented. Dhanapal also added that Friday's incident was no one-off, and that they've seen this happen a number of times.
"Working without warning boards or reflectors, we sometimes signal manually by waving our hands, and only when we have an extra worker with us, which is unlikely most of the time," he added. H Ghouse Baig, a consumer activist, said the district administration should ensure strict regulations on such matters.
"Further, the political party or organisation for which the worker is employed should be held responsible," he said. An official of the National Highways any painting work on NH walls should be done with permission from the NH but no one seemed to care about that.
"When the permission for such painting work is given, it will also ensure the safety of workers, but with no one seeking permission, we are unaware of the issues," he added. The rules also mandate that the paintings should be painted over with black and white paint after they've served their purpose, but they're hardly ever followed, the official pointed out.