25 May 2013
The GHMC is discouraged from going too strong against the violators who deface the City walls as local politicians patronise many of these ‘stick-bill-anywhere’ army.
Hyderabad: “Keep your city clean”, “Stick No Bills”, “Do not Spit here”, these are some civic advices we come across every day. But walk a furlong on any sidewalk in the City and you will find bills and posters and graffiti on the walls, which are disfigured with paan stain and urination.
Though according to the GO 1163 of 1995, there is a ban on sticking posters and bills on the roadside walls, people put up such illegal posters in almost every nook and corner of the City and go scot-free.
The GHMC occasionally goes into a drive against these unscrupulous elements but it turns out to be a cat and mouse game. Vigilance wing of the civic body reveals that the drive remains ineffectual because of intervention of the ‘chota netas’, who seem to have stake in this game.
“In every circle, there are 1-2 enforcement vehicles. Whenever an illegal poster is put up, the enforcement staff immediately pulls it down. However, most of the posters that are removed are the ones put up by private organisations. We are handicapped when it comes to anything put up by the political parties,” confesses a senior official in the vigilance department.
Another reason given by the civic body for not taking strict action against wall defacers is because of staff shortage.
“We have enforcement vehicles going around from 6 am to 2pm. But do not have sufficient evening staff to effectively man them. Most of the time, these posters and graffiti are done by people late in the night. Since we are short staffed, we are not able to catch them red handed.
“However, at times, culprits were caught red handed and were imposed a spot fine anywhere from `5,000 to `25,000, depending on the intensity of the offence,” says L Vandan Kumar GHMC additional commissioner (health and sanitation).
Adding that citizens too should come forward to maintain the city, the additional commissioner says, “Citizens cannot blame the civic body every time. Citizens also should inculcate civic sense within them and ensure that public spaces are not littered.”
Meanwhile, according to the GHMC official records, in the past five months, they have collected almost `60,000 in penalties from people who violated the rules and stuck posters on walls. Educational and coaching institutions topped the list of violators, followed by film posters. Irony is that all the fines collected do not include those from the posters put up by political parties.
The health and sanitisation wing says that from January, they have collected enforcement fines of nearly `20 lakh from offenders.
Bengaluru’s initiative inspires Hyderabad Youth
They call their group “Ugly Indians” who strongly believe in the philosophy, “Kaam chalu mooh bandh (Stop Talking, Start Doing).
This group which believes in direct action, with a common-sense problem-solving approach, do not point an accusing finger at anyone or blame the system. They go into action silently.
Inspired by this group, the members of the Rotaract Club of Hyderabad have decided to go on a drive every alternate week and clean the city walls by removing the posters and pamphlets.
“We realised that individually people shy away from taking civic responsibility. So we came forward as a group to join hands in keeping our city clean. What most of us lack is the sense and feeling of ‘My City’.
“Instead of just blaming the government for not doing their job, why can’t we come forward to bring a change? Every one wants the city clean, but nobody wants to work for it. So we have decided to do our bit for the
society. Anyone who wants the city clean can join hands with us,” says Shashi Kanth a member of the Rotract Club of Hyderabad.
