JOIN USMLA's supporters deface JC Road with hoardings, posters
Visual pollution on JC Road and adjoining streets has reached the peak since Wednesday.
In utter disregard for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council’s resolution banning all kinds of hoardings, Chickpet MLA R V Devaraj’s supporters have flooded the entire area with hoardings and posters in the past three days to greet him on his birthday.
Even the footpath has been encroached upon at some locations on the busy JC Road to erect poles for the hoardings to wish the Congress leader, who turned 58 on Thursday. The BBMP authorities, however, have turned a blind eye to the illegal hoardings and posters though the Palike’s head office is located on the very stretch.
Starting from Sajjan Rao Circle in VV Puram till Ravindra Kalakshetra on JC Road, the third-time MLA’s supporters have put up hundreds of hoarding of various sizes. They have erected poles on the footpaths at some places on JC Road, opposite Hotel Pai Viceroy and the now defunct Shivaji cinema, and installed huge hoardings. These hoardings have literally blocked the pedestrian movement.
The streets around JC Road are also full of hoardings with photos of Devaraj and his son Yuvaraj, the corporator from Sudhamanagar ward in Chickpet Assembly constituency.
Besides the hoardings, Devaraj’s fans have disfigured the walls of private and public buildings all along the JC Road by pasting several posters, all to wish him a ‘happy birthday.’ They have not even spared the compound wall of the BBMP’s VV Puram ward office located near the Minerva Circle.
A shopkeeper on JC Road, who preferred anonymity, told Deccan Herald, “This is not the first time. It was a similar situation a few months ago when the MLA’s son won the BBMP elections. Banners and hoardings congratulating dotted the entire JC Road. Though flexes were put up during Devaraj’s birthday, last year, also, their number has gone up this time.”
While parking is banned on JC Road, on Friday afternoon a mobile display vehicle which had Devaraj and his son’s photos along with birthday greetings, was seen parked on the roadside in front of Hotel Pai Viceroy.
Unaware of hoardings
When contacted, BBMP’s Assistant Commissioner K Mathai said he was not aware of any such billboards, posters or hoardings.
He said it is the responsibility of the zonal commissioners to see that no illegal posters come up in their jurisdiction. He said a mere complaint with a photograph is enough for the Palike administration to initiate action against those putting up posters.