Amritsar, February 20
Even as the local administration has come up with a novel idea for the beautification of the city using wall paintings, the defacement of public properties by illegal private advertisers is a cause for concern as advertisement posters can be seen glued on the walls of most public buildings, including the bus stand and railway station.
The pillars of flyovers, the walls of overbridges and government offices have not been spared by these advertisers. A drive on the Batala road would reveal that even the pillar numbers, which people usually use as an address of locating stores or streets are covered by these illegal posters.
A wall-painting competition is being organised by the administration to paint walls for the beautification of the city. The residents said action should also be initiated against those involved in the defacement of public properties.
“There is a need to ensure that nobody would paste posters on the walls which are being painted for beautification. If the administration fails to check defacement strictly, sooner or later, the illegal advertisers would put up posters on these wall paintings too,” said a resident, Manvinder Singh.
The residents said not even a single wall of a public property or a pillar of any of the flyover and elevated road is free of these advertisements. While most use posters to advertise some events, businesses or ideologies, there are others who have painted their advertisements on the walls.
“It is strange that even those organisations which claim to work for social and religious causes too use illegal advertisements. There is also a need to check the defacement by political parties,” rued another resident, Balkar Singh.
The residents also suggested that the administration should make the shopkeepers display their names in a specified format and in a particular font size, as has been done in the Hall Bazaar and in the Heritage Street area as it would help make the market places look beautiful. They also suggested that tangled wires in the streets should be fixed.
