It was a shocking news. A 23-year-old woman techie riding a two wheeler was run over by a water tanker as she lost balance and fell down after an illegal hoarding put up by a politician crashed down on her on an arterial suburban road in the city. Though the High Court has clearly declared that erecting cutouts and banners are illegal, the officials turned a blind-eye. Almost every other political party in the State are involved in this banner culture. This cutout culture is not new to Tamilnadu. It is a straight offshoot of politics-film nexus. Not just politicians and film stars, even for small weddings in remote villages, these banners and hoardings are put up at will.
The High Court was right in asking whether the government would take a firm stand against such unauthorised banners. “How many more litres of blood the state government needs to paint the roads with?” a division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee wondered. The court also directed the State to pay Rs 5 lakh as interim compensation to the victim’s family, with liberty to recover it from erring officials. It directed the government to take appropriate action, including disciplinary, against officials concerned, both from the police department and the Corporation of Chennai.
Several political parties including the AIADMK, DMK, AMMK have warned cadres not to erect cutouts anymore. But they should not stop with media statements. They should file an undertaking to the court to this effect. The Court rightly observed, ‘We have already made all the recognised political parties as party respondent to the case.. why shouldn’t they file an undertaking?’