Chennai, July 12: Following the ban on posters along Anna Salai (Mount Road) and Kamaraj Salai (Beach Road), the city corporation has now intensified its drive of painting government walls along the arterial roads to ensure that posters do not mushroom in the poster-free zone.

As part of its ‘Singara Chennai’ project to beautify the city, the corporation has identified a panel of artists who will paint on the government buildings located along these two roads. “The artists will be paid Rs 25 per sq ft and the entire painting work will be completed within two months,” Chennai mayor M. Subramanian told this newspaper.

Earlier, the city corporation was coordinating with the Government College of Fine Arts, Egmore, to bring in new paintings on the government building walls near Teynampet signal. But the college demanded Rs 80 per square foot for painting, which the corporation council felt was high. Subsequently, the work order has been issued to a panel comprising artists from across the state who are specialists in painting Tamil and Dravidian culture, the mayor said.