Public property defacement to hit Tiruchy’s ‘cleanest city’ tag, stringent action on violators a must

TIRUCHY: With the corporation’s efforts to curb defacement of public properties, particularly with posters, seeming to have yielded little results, the demand for stringent measures like imposition of fines on violators has resurfaced. Locals stressed for immediate measures to tackle the menace lest it affect Tiruchy’s ‘cleanest city’ tag conferred upon it recently by a Union government survey.

A Anbu, a bus commuter at the waiting shed near the K Abishekapuram zonal office, pointed to the posters defacing the very structure.

“If this is the situation near the corporation’s zonal office, what would it be in other areas? Senior officials of the civic body have to consider the issue and take action on those frequently pasting posters on the waiting shed.” It may be noted that the corporation has set up at least one ‘poster board’ within a kilometre radius of the waiting shed in question to discourage poster pasting in spots other than the dedicated space offered by it.

J Radhakrishnan, a retired Union government official from Thillai Nagar, said, “Anyone passing through the city can see posters stuck on the compound wall of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital and the Tennur bridge. Though sanitation workers sometimes remove the posters, the violation would resurface at the same spot. Therefore, one option the corporation can consider is to identify such public spots vulnerable to frequent defacing and impose heavy fines on the violators.”

L Sreepathi of Annamalai Nagar said, “We are now considered the cleanest city in the state. The frequent defacement at some public spots will affect our ‘clean city’ image. The corporation must hence come up with a solution to the issue.

When enquired, senior corporation officials said that the issue will be taken up and assured of stringent action on violators.