The writing is on the wall for GHMC ban on posters?

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) wants to make the city beautiful. As a pilot project, it has made a smart move with the Khairatabad flyover, where the political parties, followed by several other organisations, have been the blatant violators in defacing the flyover walls and pasting posters.

However, the new diktat of the GHMC imposing a blanket ban on unauthorised posters, wall writings, cutouts, and flexes, with effect from September 27, is not going well within several quarters. What is more curious is that the GHMC circular made its orders applicable to public and private establishments. The civic body has made it clear that violations attract penalties.

The whole purpose of the civic body's circular is to preserve the city's "aesthetic appeal."

K Srikanth, an IT employee, said, "I travel every day via Khairatabad to Hi-Tech City; most of the time the posters and flags are of the political parties. The sheer number of posters put up and flags tied to the electricity polls on the Khairatabad flyover of a ruling party stood out as an example of those in power can violate rules however they want to." This is his experience while travelling for more than 10 years on the Khiaratabad flyover.

"The festive season gives the worst experience to the people of the city. From gully leaders to the corporators to the city Mayor, MLAs, MPs, and a lot others from every shade and colour of the political parties and local organisations put up felxi banners at the crossroads, along the roads leading to the temples, and in the vicinity of the temples," points out C Karuna, a housewife from Himayatnagar.

Most of the time, the wall writing and posters appearing on the compound walls of the parks and public and private properties belong to civil society, youth and student organisations. However, in places like Ameerpet, Maitrivanam, Chikkadapalli, Ashoknagar, and Dilshuknagar, the posters are mainly of the educational institutions offering various courses to the students.

A few more areas in the city are landmarks known as cultural hubs for celebrating cultural festivals for decades, and they do put up wall posters. S Raghunath, a private employee working in a shop in King Koti, sees it right from his college days in the city. Hyderabadi's experience with wall writing, posters, and flex banners falls under three categories.

Firstly, those in power violating the rules and norms deface every space across the city. The second category is those who can afford the commercial spaces appearing on traffic dividers, metro pillars, foot-over bridges, and huge billboards.

It was only the third category of people who had neither power nor affordability, resorting to writing on the walls and sticking posters to communicate with the people.

The latest diktat of the GHMC hits hard on the third category of people, including educational institutions like Mytrivanam.

Sekhar Goud, a student taking a course in AI/ML in Maitrivanam, said that the GHMC should devise a mechanism for creating designated spaces in different parts of the city. "Wall posters and roadside billboards across this place with various institutions give us an idea of different institutions and the competitive pricing of their offerings." He sees having a clean city as important, as there should be a level playing field for all people and organisations to put their message across and communicate with the people.