Hoardings permitted
The Tamil Nadu government’s move to permit hoardings in urban areas with a view to increasing revenue for civic bodies is a retrograde step and also unwise (Chennai, “Government decides to permit hoardings in urban areas”, May 2).
It cannot be forgotten that many people have either been fatally or seriously injured after hoardings fell on them. The city’s existing road network is overstretched and groaning under the burden of heavy vehicular traffic. The installation of hoardings on roads will further accentuate existing problems. When there are many avenues available to the government to rake in revenue, the green light for hoardings is unjustified. Human lives should take precedence over all other matters. As done in the case of the Bill amending the Factories Act, this regressive decision, to permit the use of hoardings, needs to be rolled back.
