Even after the conclusion of the recently held Assembly elections that brought the YSR Congress Party to power, the flexi banners of the party hanging on the medians have been a source of trouble for motorists.
“Last evening, when I was on my way back home, a banner got detached from one of the lamp posts and flew in direction of the wind. It could have caused an accident on the highway,” Fatima, a resident of Tadigadapa, said.
“It is an inconvenience because at times the bikers read the content on the poster and do not keep track of the traffic signals,” said P. Satanarayana, a traffic police constable stationed in Auto Nagar. The city has been witness to numerous posters and banners of the party, congratulating their leaders over the victory despite being a blatant violation to the Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Disfigurement of Open Places and Prohibition of Obscene and Objectionable and Advertisements Act, 1997. The Act states that the disfigurement of any public or private place is a punishable offence with imprisonment of up to 3 months or with fine which may extend up to ₹2,000 or both.
As a part of the ‘Transforming Vijayawada’ campaign taken up by an NGO Margam with which the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation had collaborated two years ago, posters were removed from the walls and medians for the beautification of the city. To this effect, the Corporation even imposed a fine on those who violated the rule. However, the banners were back with the recently concluded elections.
“These banners cause inconvenience to the drivers by diverting their attention. Accidents have happened in the past because of it,” said Laxmi Annapurna, founder of Margam. “The VMC is supposed to remove these banners, but no action has been taken so far. Our efforts to beautify the city have gone in vain with the return of these posters,” she added.
Assistant City Planner of VMC M. Jagdish said the delay of removing banners had been caused by the works of the upcoming Corporation election duty. “We have been busy preparing the voters’ list because of which all the workers have been busy. We will positively remove all these posters by next week,” he said.
