Political row over flex banners as Mekedatu Padayatra nears Bengaluru

Western parts of the city have been flooded with large hoardings in support of the Mekedatu drinking water project

Congress leader Madhu Bangarappa during the second day of the Mekedatu Padayatra. Credit: DH Photo

A political row has erupted in the city over hoardings and banners, which have been banned for the last three and a half years.

When the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) started removing illegal flex boards put up in RR Nagar, senior Congress leaders reportedly warned the officers, saying why no action was taken to remove posters erected by BJP leaders, putting the civic body in a catch-22.

As the Congress padayatra has been heading towards Bengaluru, western parts of the city, including Kengeri, RR Nagar, Vijayanagar and Govindarajanagar, have been flooded with large hoardings in support of the Mekedatu drinking water project. It’s learnt that a Congress leader allegedly threatened to get the BBMP's RR Nagar engineer to put back the posters in case he removed them.

Also read: Karnataka Congress padayatra continues; FIR against Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar

The argument posed by the Congress party is that a lot of BJP leaders in the city were allowed to erect the posters. They pointed out that posters wishing former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on his birthday were allowed without any restrictions.

Speed up drive: BBMP

On Monday, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta held an emergency meeting with Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant and senior IPS officers. Gupta reportedly asked the BBMP officials to speed up the drive to remove illegal flex banners and buntings with the help of the police.

"Illegal flex banners and buntings are widely found in the city. Officials in the respective zones should not allow this to continue. FIRs should be lodged in the local police stations against the people displaying such illegal flex banners and buntings," he said at the virtual meeting. He also requested the police commissioner to provide security during the drive.

According to the BBMP, displaying flex boards, banners, flags, posters and buntings is a punishable offence under the BBMP Act, 2020, and Section 3 of Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981.

It’s also learnt that the BBMP has given permission for the Congress party to hold a public programme at the National College Ground on March 3. The civic body, however, did not reveal if it has imposed any conditions.

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