Hisar’s war against posters

Deepender Deswal

A people’s war against posters defacing Hisar town has gained momentum. A number of people from different walks of life have joined hands under the aegis of the Hamara Pyara Hisar group for a weekend cleanliness drive to remove posters and unauthorized hoardings from public places.

Public places such as parks, roundabouts, bus stands, markets, statues of martyrs and the mini-secretariat have been defaced with unauthorized posters and hoardings.

Morning-walkers Satender Yadav, Sushil Kharinta and Rakesh Agrawal started the campaign in their neighbourhood park on November 25 last year. They got support from 10 persons and started removing posters and hoardings from Saheed Sube Singh Smarak Park in the police lines area residential sector in Hisar town.

Rakesh Agrawal, a local businessman, says that they have publicised their campaign on social media by posting photographs of the defaced park and its clean environ after the drive. The park, where nobody liked to have a walk, was a buzzing place a week later, as many morning-walkers started coming there. “Next, we focused on Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Smarak Park in the Red Square Market. We had an impressive gathering of about 60 persons in the park and we removed unauthorized posters and hoardings from there”.

Trilok Bansal, another social activist, says that they will make the 3-km stretch from the Dabra Chowk to the Lala Lajpat Rai Chowk, which is the lifeline of the town, completely free from posters and hoardings. “We will put up a public notice at this stretch, cautioning people against pasting publicity material there. In case of a violation, we will lodge a complaint under the Haryana Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1989,” he says. They hope that local people as well as the municipal corporation (MC) will support the drive, he adds.

Sushil Kharinta and Satender Yadav, who were among those who initiated the campaign, say that it is unfortunate that the municipal authorities have not been able to act against people who deface Hisar town. “Hisar was ranked 146 in the Swachh Survekshan last year while Karnal and Rohtak ranked below 100. The Hisar municipal corporation authorities become active only when the team of Swachh Survekshan arrives in the town,” they say. Even municipal corporation officials are not able to cooperate with them in the drive.

Advocate Jitender Arya had filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking information about penalties or prosecution by the municipal corporation under the Haryana Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. The reply to the application revealed that though all public places in Hisar town were defaced with posters, the municipal authorities did not penalise any person or take any steps to salvage the situation over the years.

Prominent social activists of the town Manish Goyal, Vishal Citylight, Vikas Godara, Ram Bura, Sandeep Gupta, Dr SK Garg, Dr Rajkumar Grover, Dr Suresh Chopra and Dr Raj Varma have been associated with the campaign. They regularly take part in the weekend cleanliness drive and also bring along youths from their families and neighbourhood.

National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers from various schools and colleges too have started participating in the campaign. “Social media is a strong tool to involve people in a good cause if it is used in a positive manner,” says Rakesh Agrawal.

Impressed by the initiative, the municipal corporation too has become active now. Superintending Engineer Ramji Lal recently called a meeting of coaching institutes and urged their representatives not to paste posters at public places. The corporation has also served notices on about 30 institutes for defacing public places with posters and hoardings.

An MC official says that unfortunately councillors too are involved in defacing public places. “Recently, during the municipal corporation elections, ticket aspirants defaced public places with impunity. The newly elected Mayor and councillors need to devise a strategy to penalise or punish violators. The MC officials follow their directions but when the elected leaders show a flexible attitude towards such violations, we can do little to control the malpractice. And many a time, posters of religious or other ceremonies with photographs of the Mayor and elected councillors can be seen pasted all over the town,” adds the official.