Vinyl flex boards put up by political parties on the lamp posts along the medians on arterial roads and busy junctions in the capital are turning to be a safety hazard for the road users.
The flex boards have also come up on the traffic signal posts on the Kowdiar-East Fort stretch and road leading to Shanghumugham. This is apparently being done by the political parties to drum up support for the yatras concluding in the city.
On Tuesday, flex boards erected on the lamp posts were seen hanging onto the road, threatening the smooth movement of two wheelers and cars.
Political parties had also hung small flex boards with a width of 90 cm overshooting the 30-cm median in the corridors developed under the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP).
In several instances on the RR Lamp-East Fort stretch, flex boards were seen hanging perpendicular to the road, as they were not properly tied to the lamp post.
Hanging from electric post
In another instance, only the frame of the flex board was seen hanging on the electric post.
The vinyl flex had got torn in the winds.
Such positioning of the flex boards may obstruct traffic and cause accidents.
An official of the Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company (TRDCL), the concessionaire of CRIP, said they were flooded with calls from the road users requesting for better safety of the road users.
The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) and the District Collector have also been informed of this threat to road safety.
As custodians of the CRIP corridors for 15 years, the TRDCL is the sole keeper of the corridor and the installations till it is handed back.
But it has also not bothered to remove the illegal flex boards, banners and flags fearing opposition from the political parties.
When contacted, City Police Commisioner G. Sparjan Kumar said they had not received any complaints in this regard from road users.
CPI(M) responds
The TRDCL official said only the CPI(M) responded positively to the written request not to misuse the road corridor.
“The other political parties are forcing us to take legal action against them and to seek damage caused to the lamp posts and signal posts”, he added.
