Defaced sign boards across Chennai perturb residents and visitors looking to navigate through the city.
What’s it about? Chennai’s street name boards are under a constant threat of being sullied by political posters, notices of local birthdays and obituaries, or paan stains. Locals attribute this to a general lack of civic sense and a failure of the Chennai Corporation to prune out miscreants.
- Defaced sign boards are a regular sighting in Kalingarayan street in Old Washermenpet, Cemetery Road near Royapuram, and Pudupalli street and Trust Cross street in Mylapore.
- This is despite the corporation earmarking ₹8 crores for replacing and installing street name boards. The local body recently finished updating name boards in Varuna Salai near Napier Bridge, Kutchery Road, Mandaveli street, Ramakrishna Mutt Road, and Kamarajar Salai.
The way forward: Residents and officials alike have expressed the need to amp up anti-defacement drives. Officials have said that they would book miscreants under the Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1959. Police complaints have already been filed against 252 people.
(Image credits: Cargo Collective’s website)