On Sunday, a large circular flexi poster, standing unsupported close to Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao’s camp office in Begumpet, fell on an unsuspecting two-wheeler rider.
The victim suffered bleeding injuries on his face, as shown by video clips shot at the spot and circulated on social media. Despite being tagged in several posts, neither the Enforcement, Vigilance & Disaster Management wing nor the Central Enforcement Cell (CEC) of the GHMC responded.
A day later, a Twitter user tagged the CEC alerting them about a diminutive board tied to a tree in Narayanguda, advertising about a boys’ hostel. Within a couple of hours, the CEC tweeted back an image of a challan for ₹5,000 imposed on the violator for unauthorised erection of banners and cutouts.
On the same day, the CEC also imposed challans worth ₹10,000 for posters on Metro Rail pillar in Ameerpet advertising about employment opportunities.
One may scroll and scroll till the end of the CEC’s Twitter feed, but not find a single challan issued for flexi posters, cutouts, banners and hoardings tied in thousands by the political parties and individual politicians every time an event takes place in the city. Such penalties seem exclusively for commoners!
This is in stark contrast to the zeal displayed by GHMC through its EV&DM wing and the CEC till a year ago, when every complaint on social media about flexi posters/banners/ cutouts would be responded to with a challan generated in the name of either the political party or the individual politician who violated the ban.
A blanket ban was in force by GHMC on hoardings, flexis, posters, banners, cutouts and any other publicity material that defaced the city, following High Court orders in 2015.
Even ministers and legislators were not spared, as vouched by multiple penalties slapped against Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav for staining the skyscape of the city.
Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development K.T.Rama Rao had once ensured that his party corporators were penalised for putting up his posters, displaying an even-handed approach.
The strict enforcement eventually had to bow out to political idolatry, as witnessed by the city currently drowned in all kinds of political hues, mostly of the ruling party, in view of the 10th year celebrations of Telangana State’s formation.
The earlier challans generated against political posters have also mysteriously disappeared from the Twitter feed of the CEC. Interestingly, of the over ₹130-crore challans generated till now by the EV&DM wing, only about ₹30 crore have reportedly been collected.
Enquiries have revealed that the political banners have been removed from the purview of the Enforcement wing, and handed over to the Sanitation wing. Discreet instructions have been issued reportedly to clear the banners a day after the event, so as not to give scope for complaints. With the decennial celebrations scheduled for 21 days, the flexis are probably here to stay till the celebrations conclude.
