Editorial: A ban on banner culture

Unfortunately, such displays of showmanship by the cadre of regional parties aimed at impressing the top brass have often had disastrous consequences. Just last week, a 13-year-old boy in Villupuram was electrocuted to death while setting up flags of the ruling party, as a leader was expected to grace a wedding in the neighbourhood. The boy was killed when a live electric wire fell on him while erecting flags for the said occasion. 

While the leadership of the ruling party has instructed its cadre to refrain from erecting flags, and putting up banners, the plea has fallen on deaf ears as rural and urban pockets in TN are rife with instances of such violations. The cadre had not sought permission either from the police or the respective municipality for the aforementioned exercise. Accidental deaths caused by such displays of political firepower are dime a dozen in TN. In April this year, a woman in Thanjavur riding pillion was killed after a flex hoarding came crashing on her. The board was erected by an individual (who has since been arrested) as part of the inauguration of his late father’s portrait. 

The issue of safety hazards posed by such hoardings was highlighted two years ago when a 23-year-old techie died in the aftermath of a roadside hoarding falling on her. Subhasri, who lost her balance was in fact run over by a tanker lorry, whose driver was arrested on charges of negligent driving. The real perpetrator in this case was the larger than life banner erected by an AIADMK functionary who had opted for the hoarding to announce his son’s wedding, which was attended by former deputy CM O Panneerselvam. Prior to Subhasri’s death, in 2017, the Madras High Court passed an order that banned hoardings of living persons and political parties along roads and pavements as these banners caused an obstruction to traffic and were a major inconvenience to pedestrians as well. Two years later, the MHC had pulled up the government for its failure to implement in letter and spirit its order banning such hoardings in TN. The MHC did not mince its words while referring to Subhasri’s case, terming the incident as a result of bureaucratic apathy. Justice Seshasayee expressed the court’s frustration when he said the court was tired of passing several orders against illegal flex boards, only for them to be violated time and again. Like the Judge, citizens of the state also seemed to have lost their faith in a government that had zero respect for life. 

The late activist Traffic Ramaswamy, who was vocal in his criticism of the banner culture, had taken down several hoardings of former Chief Ministers M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa during his hey days. He had also filed over 600 PILs in connection with violations and illegal structures in Chennai, which include 150 cases against illegal hoardings. In 2007, after the Chief Secretary of TN released a GO saying that anybody could erect a banner three days before an event, and two days after, Ramaswamy challenged the order, which he termed as 100 per cent unconstitutional. Subsequently, the GO was quashed by Justice PK Mishra. As per law, no banner should be erected within 100 metres of a junction, a directive that is recklessly flouted by political parties and religious institutions. There is also an explicit requirement to obtain police permission for erecting banners, without which even the Corporation cannot collect its dues. So essentially, it’s not the absence of legislation, but the lack of stringent deterring action on part of law enforcement officials who under political pressure give a free rein to such violators.