BENGALURU: If you were born on August 6, like the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s President G Parameshwara was, astrologers will advice you to stay away from unecessary frills this year. The former home minister’s supporters should pay heed because they are crowding out footpaths with garish ‘Happy Birthday’ boards.
There were, for example, those supposedly from the chairman of BBMP’s Social Justice Standing Committee, V Elumalai, around the Cantonment area and Queen’s Road. Nearly a day had passed and yet the hoardings on the footpaths, traffic junctions and lamp posts were still standing, causing grief to pedestrians and motorists alike. After City Express contacted the KPCC office, few people were seen taking down the boards by late evening.But the political party or its supporters are not the sole violators. If you walk through the city, you will find posters and hoardings affiliated to every major party in town.
Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force can act against such violations, but they rarely do, citing lack of personnel and more pressing issues like land grab that require their attention. They wait for BBMP revenue officials to come to them with a complaint, and that does not happen often. While there were more than 120 complaints raised by the BBMP officials last year, this year has seen a precious four.
Ridiculous, and causes accidents’
These hoardings are ridiculous, says Stephen Raj, a payroll processor. “It stands in the way of pedestrians and we can’t use the footpath,” he says. “We are forced to walk on the road. And, in a busy road, what if we get hit by a vehicle.” He adds that these many hoardings are unecessary and, “if admirers absolutely needed to have them, they should place them a little higher and use smaller hoardings”.
It is a distraction while driving, says Mohammed Jaffar, a scooterist. “A vehicle had also hit a hoarding, which then fell down,” he says of the ones placed on Queens Road, “they can so easily cause accidents.” A resident of Vasanth Nagar, Rajkumar Duggar says, “These hoardings takes your attention away from driving, like when you are using a mobile phone... They keep doing this for their leaders. They put up hoardings even on sky walks.”
Aslam Basha who runs a shop near the Cantonment Railway Station says, “There are labourers who take trains and come to the city for work every day. They bend and cross under these hoardings.”
While City Express was speaking to pedestrians near the railway station, a woman passing by comments, “They spend so much on these hoardings. Instead, why can’t they do good for the poor, give them food.”
‘We will tighten ropes’
Speaking to City Express, G C Chandrashekhar, general secretary of KPCC, said that the party workers were warned not to put up the hoardings. “Even Parameshwara had said that he does not want to celebrate his birthday this year because there is a drought in the state. But you know they are workers, they don’t listen...” He assured to get them removed immediately, then added, “It is causing problems to the people. We will get them removed in a day or two.” When he was asked about the hoarding that had fallen on a bike, he said, “We will ask them to tighten the ropes or remove it today itself.”
Sapna Karim, head of civic participation, Janaagraha, Centre For Citizenship & Democracy, says that it is understandable that they do it to reach out to their constituencies but defacing public spaces should be avoided. “The Election Commission has set up rules and they should abide by them. They have the right to ciculate publicity material while campaigning but not throughout the year. They do not have the right to litter or cause hindrance to the public movement,” she says.
S Prakash, BJP spokesperson calls BBMP incapable of preventing or taking action against such activities. He says, “Irrespective of political affiliations, BBMP should act against such violations, and not allow it to happen,” he says.When City Express contacted Elumalai, he was not available for comments.
What rules say
People have to apply for permission from BBMP to put up hoardings
They have to display these permission numbers on them
Permission is generally granted for seven days
If there is defacement of public property, Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force can register a case suo moto
HC has asked BBMP to strictly follow Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981
Short-staffed and overworked
Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force or BMTF can take a register a case suo moto when there is defacement of public property, but they rarely do. A source in the task force says that cases will not hold if they do. “We need the BBMP revenue officers to say that the hoardings are causing loss of revenue,” says the source. “Otherwise, how do we know if it violates the rules...” Prashant Kumar Thakur, ADGP of the task force, says that they are always available if BBMP officers reach out to them for help. “We go with them on their nightly rounds and help them take down hoardings,” he says.
Nagaraj is the Assistant Commssioner, Advertising, BBMP. He says that whenever zonal officers alert him, he has raised it with the Task Force and has received help. “There are 198 wards and so many agencies putting up such boards, there is one BBMP to monitor it. But we keep doing nightly rounds and taking them down. Even today, we got a complaint from Chamrajanagar about these birthday hoardings and we took them down.” There are many violations, says the Task Force officer who does not want to be named. “Nearly all of them are illegal, where do we start? These are petty cases and we focus our energies on land grab,” he says. The Task Force is short-staffed and they ask for help from the local police off and on.