Chennai: Strong winds during the northeast monsoon have renewed concerns over hundreds of hoardings erected in violation of norms across the city. The civic agency removed advertisment skins from 73 hoardings, but steel scaffolding of 43 hoardings remained over building tops and by the roadside.In June, a steel hoarding came crashing down in Maduravoyal amid wind and rain trigging panic among road users. On Oct 30, anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam flagged violations and submitted evidence of at least 23 illegal hoardings to the chief secretary on Oct 30.Greater Chennai Corporation identified 52 hoardings at 29 locations across five zones- Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam until Sunday. The advertisement skins were ripped from the structures at several locations, including 200-Feet Road in Korattur, SIDCO Industrial Estate, Poonamallee High Road, Nelson Manickam Road, Dr Radhakrishnan Road, and at the Anna Salai – Cenatoph Road junction. But the hoarding structures remain.GCC commissioner G S Sameeran said that 109 illegal hoardings have been identified across the city. “The skins of 73 hoardings in the city have been removed. We have also removed 30 structures. The work will continue,” he told TOI.Residents and activisits urge that the civic body remove the entire structure if it is illegal or dangerous. “This exercise must not be an eyewash. GCC must take it up seriously and remove them within the next few days, considering the monsoon,” said Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan.Meanwhile, the drive has been extended across local bodies. “All local bodies have been instructed to ensure that unauthorised hoardings are removed Authorised hoardings have structural stability and have paid the due fees,” said municipal administration and water supply secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi.Residents complain that number of hoardings across the city had doubled over the past two years and that structures were visibly slanted. “Public safety is not negotiable. Prevention is better than compensation after a tragedy,” said D Neelakannan, president of the Tamil Nadu Alliance of Resident Welfare Associations. “GCC officials see a slanted hoarding but move on as though they have not noticed it. Most government initiatives fail because of corrupt officials,” he said.
