Don’t nail poll material on trees, green activist urges political parties

Nitish Sharma

Kurukshetra, March 26

Since the campaign for the Lok Sabha election will intensify in the coming days, the city is likely to witness a war of hoardings and banners among political parties.

The candidates will be putting up publicity materials to woo the residents and gain their attention and that of their own leaders during the rallies and public meetings.

Recently, even after running a special drive against illegal hoardings and banners, the Thanesar Municipal Council has removed about 650 hoardings and banners belonging to various political parties under the MC limit during the drive.

Rajnish Kumar, a local resident, said “The government has been spending crores of rupees on the beautification of Kurukshetra but as soon as one enters the city from Pipli Chowk, one often finds many hoardings and banners on the walls, decorative poles and dividers. It presents a shabby look to the tourists and devotees who reach here from across the country. Though the municipal council has the responsibility to take action and remove such hoardings, due to political obligations, the officials avoid such actions. The political parties should not get involved in such a war, they should use only the designated sites or their election offices to display such political material.”

A senior professor at Kurukshetra University said, “A fair election should be conducted without creating prejudice for somebody. Canvasing should be done based on debates and in the form of dialogue instead of putting up hoardings and luring people. Moreover, the hoardings are a hazard for traffic and drivers. It draws attention and sometimes during heavy rain and strong winds, the hoardings can lead to accidents, too.” Dr Naresh Bhardwaj, environmentalist, and executive member of Green Earth NGO, said, “We have already requested the senior politicians in Kurukshetra to at least spare trees while installing hoardings and banners as these not only deface the city but also damage the trees. We also request the political parties to use eco-friendly materials while canvasing and avoid using single-use plastic materials. Instead of using flexboards, banners made of cloth as it will also give a good message to the public. Keeping the city clean is also a responsibility of the politicians.”

A senior district official said, “As many as 431 sites (27 in urban areas and 404 in rural areas) have been identified for installing the hoardings and posters in the district and the list of identified sites has been shared by the district election office.”