Chennai: As per the Madras High Court order, political flag posts across the city have been removed in record time.
It is a common sight to see flag poles painted in party flag colours erected on roadsides.
A few days ago, election observers and officials of the civic body removed all unauthorised flag poles of political parties in public places throughout the city.
According to reports, 6,978 unauthorised poles belonging to various parties were removed from the city permanently.
A senior Corporation official said, “The work was done in a span of two days. At several places, party people resisted. We told them that it was being done following a court order and explained that the officials were not removing only thier party flag posts.”
The official said they had police protection in certain sensitive areas.
According to data from Zone 13, in less than two days, 763 poles were removed and handed over to the party representatives.
The activity took place in several areas such as Guindy, Saidapet, Tambaram-Velacheri, Alandur, Adyar, Kotturpuram, Shasthri Nagar and Taramani.
The prominent parties which had erected the poles where the DMK, AIADMK, Congress, PMK, DMDK, MDMK, SMK, Communists, youth organisations and many others.
A bench comprising justices S Manikumar and Subramanium Prasad gave the direction 25 March, on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a complete ban on erection of poles in public places.
The petitioner, A Radhakrishnan of Salem, submitted that most of the political parties encroached upon public places causing hindrance.
He said using power drilling machines while digging for the erection of poles during party conferences, public meetings also damaged underground telecom and power cables.
When the PIL came up for hearing, the Tamilnadu government counsel submitted that 58,172 flag poles in the rural and urban areas had been removed and another 799 were being dismantled.