The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is set to crack the whip against those who deface the city’s public and private properties.
Along with the police and Poster Hatao India campaign’s Col. Shivaraj Kumar, a consultant of the Union Urban Development Ministry, the MCC will not only endeavour to remove the defacement, but will also take necessary action against the offenders.
Launching the anti-defacement campaign to make the city poster-free, under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, after holding discussions with Poster Hatao campaign representatives, Mayor Ravi Kumar said the MCC will spare no effort to bring to book those defacing public, private buildings and open spaces with posters, banners or writings. He called for the immediate removal of the same across the city.
While the MCC personnel will remove the defacement, the police will register criminal cases against the offence. Under the provisions of Karnataka Open Spaces (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981, defacement of any property (public or private, stationary or moving) in public view is a cognizable offence.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) N. Rudramani said the police will book cases not only on receiving information from the corporation, but also suo motu if they came across instances of the crime. As per law, the guilty can be punished with a penalty of ₹1,000 or imprisonment for six months or both.
Col. Kumar appealed to the public to help the authorities. “Anybody, who removes a defacement is indemnified by Para 7 of the Act and no suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings, can be initiated,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kumar regretted that posters had become a common spectacle on several walls, electricity and telephone poles, while banners announcing various programmes, including religious and political ones, were put up in different areas.
To a question, MCC’s Health Officer Dr. Nagaraj did not rule out the possibility of making the city poster-free one of the parameters while evaluating a city for its cleanliness under the Swachch Bharat campaign. Though this is unlikely in the ensuing evaluation, defacement and disfigurement of public and private property can become a parameter in future evaluations, he said.
