CHENNAI: The city corporation has filed a police complaint for defacement of the ‘Namma Chennai’ typography on the Marina beach that was designed to be a selfie point. The structure, which is around 10-feet tall, was constructed in 2020 at a cost of Rs 22 lakh. On Saturday, a photojournalist flagged the issue of writings on the structure with a photo that had a group of boys sitting on top of the structure.
When asked if other complaints for defacement on the stretch have been filed, a corporation official said that this was the only one as of now. “It is meant to be a deterrent. There is no way to protect public property unless the public put their mind to it,” said a corporation official.
Since the issue surfaced, the city corporation staff had already begun cleaning up the structure. “We have also received instructions to repaint the typography. We will begin work this week with water resistant paint,” the official said.
The typography is situated opposite to Queen Mary’s college and has the words ‘Namma Chennai’ in a combination of Tamil and English. It was designed as a selfie spot similar to the ‘I love Kovai’ selfie spot in Coimbatore and was accompanied by other beach improvement works including a seating area that was carried out in 2020.