As the election campaign by various political parties peaks, the defacement of private and public property has become a common sight in the provisional state capital Dehradun. One can easily spot banners, flags and stickers on both private and public properties in different localities of the city. The Pioneer talked to some local residents and found that the campaigners stick posters, stickers and flags without their permission. In most cases, the residents end up removing such unauthorised campaign materials on their own.
Nehrugram resident Laxmi Rawat said, “The stickers make if appear as if we are supporting a particular political party. We, on the other hand, have no idea about who really does this. We can object to such actions when we see them but these people come and paste stickers silently on our gate and walls without our permission which is very bad.”
Rita Upadhyay said, “We removed the stickers but someone pasted them again. We never gave anyone permission to do so. But these campaigners come and do it as per their wish, which is not done.”
Shopkeeper Iqbal said, “Our shop opens at 9 AM sharp so we know that the stickers are pasted on our wall before that. We do not see anybody doing this so it is hard for us to stop them.”
Hemant Negi said, “These campaigners never take our permission. I once spotted someone and strictly instructed him not to paste anything on my wall. However, these days especially during the time of the elections, they do it repeatedly.”
When asked about this, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun land section superintendent Dharmesh Painuly who is also assigned for the task of removal of the illegal posters and banners said that any such activity by any political party or campaigner is a violation of the election model code of conduct. He said, “Our team has been actively removing all the unauthorised posters, banners, flags and stickers from the city. Only those stickers or paintings pasted with the permission of any resident or building owner on their property is valid.”
He further said, “We have successfully removed about two thousand illegal posters, banners, paintings and other such campaign materials from the city so far. We have seven teams assigned for this task in various parts of the city. Each team consists of at least 10 people. Our teams not only respond when there is a complaint but also check various parts of the city on their own for such unauthorised campaign materials.”
The official informed, “If any resident has some complaints regarding this they can directly file the complaints in the cVIGIL application. The unauthorised materials will be removed within the stipulated time.”