MADURAI: The Madurai Corporation’s intensified drive to remove posters from public spaces as part of its city beautification efforts has hit the livelihood of hundreds of workers dependent on poster-pasting jobs, who say they are now struggling to find even a few days of work a week.
The corporation has been deploying sanitation workers across all 100 wards to remove posters pasted on public and private walls, particularly in prominent areas.
While the civic body’s efforts have been welcomed as part of its attempt to improve the city’s appearance, workers engaged in poster-pasting said the crackdown had sharply reduced their employment opportunities. “There are more than 1,000 workers involved in poster-pasting work in Madurai. We generally earn Rs 600 to Rs 800 for pasting around 100 posters a day. Most of the work is done during the late evening or weekend hours, but the posters are often removed by 8 am the next day,” said Xavier, a poster-pasting worker in the city.
According to him, the impact was initially limited as the corporation focused mainly on clearing posters from public walls. However, workers now find that posters pasted even on walls in interior localities are being removed, further reducing the demand for their services. “Earlier, we could get work for around 20 to 25 days a month. Now, getting even two jobs a week has become difficult. The city corporation could consider allocating some space for plastering posters.” he said.
Workers said the reduction in poster-pasting activities had left many of them without a steady source of income. Most of those engaged in the work depend on it as a daily-wage occupation and have limited alternative employment opportunities. The corporation has installed designated poster boards in Arapalayam and Sellur. However, workers and councillors said the existing boards were inadequate considering the volume of posters put up in the city and could not accommodate demand.
Several councillors had earlier raised the issue during council meetings and urged the civic administration to install additional designated poster boards at prominent locations. They argued that such boards could help prevent indiscriminate pasting on public walls while also providing continued work for those dependent on poster-pasting.
Official sources in the Corporation’s town planning department said proposals to install additional poster boards at various locations were considered. Activists alleged that sanitation workers are made to clear the posters in wards along with the regular cleaning works. The Corporation’s health department did not comment on the issues.
