The Capital’s municipal corporations have started removing illegal political posters, banners and other publicity materials following the announcement of Assembly elections in February.
Following the announcement of dates on Monday, the civic bodies received directions from the Election Commission of India to crackdown on unauthorised advertisements on government land.
Subhash Arya, the chairperson of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee, said most of the illegal publicity materials had been removed across Delhi.
“We have already removed lakhs of illegal posters, banners etc. and those left will be taken down in a day or two,” said Mr. Arya on Wednesday.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation had removed about 10,000 illegal advertisements on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Commissioner Amit Yadav. The civic body has constituted eight and four teams respectively for its two zones – Shahdara (South) and Shahdara (North).
“We wanted to make a big impact in the first two days of our drive, but our teams will continue to remove such illegal materials till the elections,” said Mr. Yadav.
In North Delhi, the civic body has set up four to seven teams per zone depending on the area. North Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner P.K. Gupta ordered officials to file FIRs in connection with new advertisements that come up before the elections.
The North Delhi civic body is also repairing roads and filling potholes to ensure there are no complaints from voters trying to reach polling booths on election day. The East Corporation has also started making arrangements for facilities at the 2,600 booths in its area, said Mr. Yadav.
