Political hoardings remain unremoved despite death of civic worker

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Three days ago, a municipal corporation’s sanitation worker, Amol Jadhav, died in Mukundwadi while removing an unauthorised hoarding. Following the incident, the issue of illegal hoardings has come under sharp public scrutiny. On Sunday, zone offices of the corporation removed a limited number of hoardings, in what appeared to be little more than token action. Meanwhile, a few political figures voluntarily took down their own hoardings. Despite this, on Monday many unauthorised hoardings remained prominently displayed across the city.

The High Court bench has directed that unauthorised hoardings must not be erected along the city’s main roads. Nevertheless, political groups continue to put them up openly on a daily basis. Hoardings are often installed at prime, highly visible locations along major roads. Notably, there is intense competition among party workers to put up such displays. Many hoardings are dangerously affixed to chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) electric poles. Removing them poses a serious risk to life. A similar incident occurred on Saturday in Mukundwadi, where Amol Jadhav suffered a fatal electric shock while taking down a hoarding mounted on a temple.

After the incident, Mayor Sameer Rajurkar and Municipal Commissioner G Sreekanth announced a tough stance on unauthorised hoardings. However, zone officials have not acted with sufficient seriousness on the issue. Even on Monday, unauthorised hoardings were visible in several parts of the city, including TV Centre, M-2 Road, Jalgaon Road, Hudco Corner, Harsul T-Point, Jatwada Road, Chikalthana, Beed Bypass, Railway Station area, Mahavir Chowk, Jalna Road, Kranti Chowk, Osmanpura and Padegaon Road.

Fear of electrocution

Even where zone offices have launched drives to remove illegal hoardings, sanitation workers lack adequate safety equipment. Some hoardings are attached to municipal streetlights, while others are fixed to MSEDCL electricity poles. Class IV employees are therefore proceeding with extreme caution while removing them.

Why have no cases been registered?

The municipal corporation had also announced that criminal cases would be registered against those responsible for putting up unauthorised hoardings. However, in the past three days, no action has been taken against those who failed to remove them. This has raised questions as to why activists of various political parties who erected illegal hoardings are being treated with such leniency.