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Tollgate flyover pillars defaced as NH authorities turn a blind eye

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Two years back, hundreds of youths came together by sacrificing their weekend commitments to clear and beautify the pillars of the Chennai-Trichy national highways (NH) flyover, at the TVS tollgate. Today the pillars are back in the same state as posters and advertisements have made a come-back to spam the pillars.
Even as advertising along the national highways is banned, which would attracts prosecution and punishment under the provisions of the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002, nothing is being done by officials to prevent the offenders.
On a weekend in July 2015, students and youths, employed with private firms in Trichy, voluntarily came forward to clean and paint the disfigured pillars beneath TVS toll gate flyover. The two day long drive saw students painting cleanliness message and portraits of national leaders including former President A P J Abdul Kalam in graffiti to bring about a behavioural change among the public to keep the surroundings clean and green.
However, over the months, advertisements and posters of private and political events happening in the city started to reappear on the pillars. Today, not only are the pillars crowded with ads and posters, even commuters waiting for buses have started to urinate here.
"The TVS toll gate flyover is the first major infrastructure visible for any outsider coming to the city from the Airport. Being in such an important vicinity, neither the district administration nor the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is bothered to prevent the spamming of the pillars of the flyover," H Ubaidullah, Trichy based activist told TOI.
Youths who participated in the cleaning drive said it was disheartening for them as the officials were failing to ensure the clean status of the flyover after their hard work. "Our aim was to bring about a behavioural change among the public, particularly the youth, to prevent disfiguring of public spots. Without the cooperation of NHAI officials, our efforts are going down in vain," a youth involved in cleaning drive said.
Sources in the corporation said that they were helpless in preventing the advertisers from spamming the flyover as the control on the infrastructure exists with NHAI.
When contacted, a senior official with NHAI Trichy division said, "We will remove the posters from the pillars of TVS flyover in the next two days and within a week we will repaint the walls." As a permanent move to prevent the posters from coming again in the flyover, the NHAI official added that warning signs would be put up beneath the flyover.
Package Story2:
King-size AIADMK banners affect vehicular movement in G-corner
Trichy: Even as the service road along the Chennai-Trichy NH connecting G-Corner with TVS toll gate is considered as an accident prone stretch, life size banners erected ahead of MGR centenary celebrations in Trichy has been giving tough time for commuters.
As the MGR centenary celebration in Trichy has been scheduled for October 26 the at G-Corner ground here, AIADMK cadres in Trichy have erected several life size banners portraying AIADMK leaders at G-Corner service road junction near Ponmalai. Ironically, a police checkpost is located few inches away from the massive banners that have now completely engulfed the police beat.
"People approaching from Palpannai and Senthanneerpuram towards TVS tollgate are not able to see the vehicles approaching in the opposite direction properly due to the presence of banners. Political parties can display their loyalty in a manner without affecting the routine of the common man, and most importantly they can avoid risking our lives for no reason," S Senthilkumar, resident of Ponmalai told TOI.
Even as buses and heavy vehicles approach the service road on either side, the police have failed act tough against such hoardings frequently cropping up on the service road. Reacting to a query, a senior official with NHAI told TOI that any hoarding found in the right of way (ROW) causing distraction to the commuter is prohibited. The official also assured that banners erected on the service roads along the national highways would be removed at the earliest.


FAILING TO ACT
1) As per the provisions available under the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002 (Chapter 3 & 4), the ministry of road transport and highways directed all field officers of NHAI across the nation to remove hoardings distracting the attention of drivers in the right of way of National Highways, in September 2017. Unfortunately, no such measures were taken in Trichy till now
2) If a highway administration or the officer authorised has removed any hoarding or encroachment, under sub-section(2) of section 36, the expenditure incurred in such removal along with with 15% additional charges or any fine imposed under the Act can be recovered
3) Placing banners and hoardings on NH and service roads is prohibited under the act.

Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/tollgate-flyover-pillars-defaced-as-nh-authorities-turn-a-blind-eye/articleshow/61085668.cms

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