Congress Party Buntings Spoiling the Beauty of Kudla?

Congress Party Buntings Spoiling the Beauty of Kudla?

Mangaluru: They Came, They Saw, They Conquered the Hearts of their Supporters…and They Left! And I am talking about CM Siddaramaiah, and other State Ministers and other Congress leaders, who had come down to Mangaluru for the inauguration of the New Congress Office, and also for the 100th Birth Anniversary of Indira Gandhi. Huge cut outs, hoardings and buntings were displayed in most part of the city, to spread the word of the celebration and also to welcome these Congress honchos. But was this all necessary by spending lakhs of rupees on such advertisements. When most part of the state is reeling under drought, it would have been wise to help the farmers/people there than wasting money on this birth anniversary.

In this regard I fully support Senior Congress leader Janardhan Poojary who has stood against such senseless spending on something which was not so required, when there are other problems that the people of Karnataka are facing, including droughts. Poojary to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi had distributed fruits and sweets to the needy people, where as other Congress leaders made a big show off by spending lakhs of rupees on a celebration which could have been avoided. And now that the celebration was over on Saturday, 19 November, and even as the dignitaries have returned back, it has been it has been nearly five days now, that the banners, hoardings, and especially the buntings have not been removed.

While Mangaluru City Corporation officials have been stressing on keeping Mangaluru Clean and Green through various awareness programmes and other publicity, but on the other hand are going against it by spoiling the beauty of the City through banners, hoardings, buntings etc- which are left behind un-attended. It is common that any political party occupies all the roads with banners and displays whenever their leader is visiting the city- And these are not at all removed again once he goes back. And we are seeing it now after the Congress event. Should there be anyone to monitor the cleanliness of the city and fine them when they violate the rules. I doubt about it.

This is one of the common scenario in Mangaluru. While the volunteers of Ramakrishna Msiion Swachh Mangaluru Campaign are trying heir best to clean various places in Mangaluru every Sunday morning, and all the places which are maintained and cleaned will be used for attaching posters, banners and advertisements in most of these places. The walls becomes dirty by pasting such posters. Buntings are hanged between electric poles or telephone poles-these buntings when they sway due to the blowing winds, are hazardous to two-wheeler riders when they pass close to it.

Yes the politicians want cheap publicity without paying the necessary civic charges to the authorities and that is why they indulge in defacing the walls with their write ups and share banners on the main roads at vantage points. The menace of erecting hoardings or hanging n=banners/buntings for even small occasion has become a fashion here. Even though the usage of flex boards are banned, but still the flex board and poster culture is increasing alarmingly. These ad materials create inconveniences to motorists. Most of the times the attention of the vehicle drivers gets distracted and lead to accidents.Government should think and issue necessary orders to curtail ads through flex boards and wall posters to keep our living environment clean.

Yes, politicians are not bother about the cleaning of city. Seems like they need some education on cleanliness. Education increases the civic sense. Keeping the cities clean should be the responsibility of not only the citizens but also government servants and politicians. Everyone likes a clean place so pleasure should be felt while cleaning also. Cleanliness adds to happy and healthy living. No doubt that the politicians spoil the city with their banners and displays. They completely spoil the beauty of the city with such activities. They only know to advertise themselves without the concern of people of the city.

I strongly agree that the cities are becoming spoiled with publicity activities by politicians like banners, flexies, paintings on walls etc., The politicians are spending a lot of money on publicity to reach the public. It might be their political tricks and strategies but along with them they are spoiling and polluting the city and towns. And they are not bothered about the banners and paintings up to display of next banners. The municipal corporations and municipalities should follow strict rules and regulations to keep cities clean and tidy.

The pictures published here are to showcase a city made ugly by the haphazard growth of these hoardings/banners/buntings etc. Advertisement billboards are bad enough by themselves, but the political hoardings are worse as they are put up anywhere and everywhere and one on top of another and in spaces not meant for hoardings. Most of them are put up for trivial and laughable reasons – to felicitate political leaders on their birthdays (!), congratulate them on some minor achievement, welcome them to the city and so on. The intention of the photographs below is not to show the ineffectiveness of the drive against the political billboards as some of them have gone now, although many remain for a long time.

The buntings, cutouts, flex banners and hoardings put up in every nook and cranny of Mangaluru, deface the beauty of the City as well as block public movement on walkways. But the sad part is that Politicians and corporators, who are supposed to prevent erection of these hoardings, hanging of banners/buntings etc, themselves indulge in such self-promotion. Many a time, these huge hoardings, displaying photographs and names of politicians, are put up without getting the permission of the licensing authority. Even though MCC has been strict in enforcing the provisions of the Karnataka Open Places (Preservation of Disfigurement) Act, banners/hoardings/cutouts are fixed illegally. But the bad part is that, though political parties get permission to put up buntings and banners before an event, they hardly show interest to remove them later. Who is interested to see those life-size hoardings? or banners or buntings Instead of wasting public money in that manner, politicians can carry some kind of social activity which will be helpful to the needy.”

Another aspect of the problem is that many of these hoardings/banners are made of flex, which cannot be recycled and cause pollution. Most of the time, these flexes/banners are left as they are. Since they are non biodegradable, their disposal is a big problem. It will be disastrous when cows eat them. Even if politicians wish to display hoardings, they can go for cloth banners. The bright colours used in these flexes contain substances like lead. If these poisonous elements mix with water and people consume that, they will face serious health issues. MCC should curb these kind of activities.

The issue of these banners/buntings still lying around in the city was brought to the notice of Youth Congress honcho Praveen Alva, who promised to remove them at the earliest- but that was two days ago, and no action has been taken until today-where the banners/buntings are still hanging around creating a big nuisance to the motorists and pedestrians.