Authorities turn blind eye to defacement, students complain of noise pollution

Meanwhile, several wards are witnessing campaigning through loudspeakers mounted on auto-rickshaws and other vehicles due to which school students preparing for board examinations are complaining. In almost all the wards, candidates have put up posters and banners at every place possible, including public parks, poles, street-lights, walls and even trees.

Under the Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act, an FIR can be registered against any one defacing public property which carries a maximum punishment of six months and fine up to Rs 1,000. Last year, the MC had started a drive against illegal hoardings and banners and got a number of FIRs registered in order to give the town a neat look.

However, this time around, nobody is complaining as the entire town wears a dirty look owing to campaigning. Only private property, including houses and vehicles, can be used for putting up banners by the candidates. MC Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said that the MC regularly carries out drives against defacement but during elections, it is the responsibility of the election officials to penalise defaulters.

Meanwhile, election officials washed their hands off the problem, saying, “The department to which the public property belongs can take the necessary action.” In fact, several candidates have complained against defacement to the election officials. Congress candidate from ward number 21 Jagir Singh said that he had filed a complaint against a rival candidate for defacing walls and other objects while Blossom Singh, an independent candidate from ward number 10 said that her rivals were deliberately tearing her posters and banners.

Meanwhile, Class XII students, who have their board exams  coming up in March, complained of noise pollution, and said that the administration should now allow campaigning through loudspeakers. Rakesh Rawat, an independent candidate from ward number 9 said, “Even though I got the permission to use loudspeakers, I did not do so as it disturbs the residents, especially the students.

“In our ward, there are mostly small government flats and houses and due to constant campaigning, their studies are suffering.”
The problem is severe in ward number 9, where nine candidates are contesting and also in several other wards, include ward number 21.