In July this year, a move to make the city cleaner was taken by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), which set up a litter-free zone in eight roads covering Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Khairatabad.
Now, almost five months since the litter-free zone was created, the ruling party’s pink posters have managed to deface some of the roads, including the area opposite and after the Chief Minister’s camp office. In fact, at Raj Bhavan road, a major part of the divider on the stretch is laced with pink flags, apart from political posters stuck here and there.
Boards erected by the GHMC, which clearly say that littering will result in fines to violators, and also prosecution, seem to be of no deterrent. In fact, walls of the Greenlands flyovers near the CM’s office are adorned with pink posters. “The posters were suddenly everywhere overnight. Though some have been taken down by GHMC workers, it is really annoying to see them defacing the city like this,” remarked Arjun, a resident of Somajiguda.
Vikram, a worker in one of the eateries on Raj Bhavan road stated that though GHMC workers collect garbage regularly from all the establishments on the stretch, littering is a daily occurrence as it was in the past. “I have yet to see a single person getting fined under this new rule. The boards came up here some months ago. And in spite of that, these posters and flags have shown up recently,” he remarked.
It was a similar scenario in other places in the litter-free zone as well. Other people also complained about the posters of political leaders being stuck on walls at Somajiguda and near Banjara Hills. “Even putting up such banners and posters is not allowed. Though civic workers pulled some down some days back, more have appeared,” mentioned a shop owner at Somajiguda who did not want to be named.
In the litter-free zone, the civic body has the power to impose a fine of Rs.500 if one is caught littering for the first time, and can increase the penalty with every repeat offence up to Rs.10,000 in the fifth time and/or imprisonment for a period of three months. However, in spite of repeated attempts, N. Satyanarayana, GHMC Central Zone commissioner did not answer calls.
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