Chennai corporation, as part of its beautification drive, banned graffiti and wall posters on arterial roads, including Anna Salai, and beautified them with wall paintings and murals.

Heavy downpour for over a week has damaged the paintings on YMCA wall at Nandanam, raising questions about the quality of the work.
“While paintings of political leaders by street artists on the walls of Binny mill building in Perambur remain unaffected by rains, why should paintings meant for beautifying the city wither away in a few months?” asked a senior artist.

However, Mr J.P. Krishna, another senior artist who did the paintings, said the damage would be rectified soon. “Over 20 paintings on the YMCA wall were like our early samples. We did not have enough time before painting the wet walls with enamel paints,” he reasoned.

“We will re-paint them. The corporation readies the walls and hands them over to us. We painted on wet walls to meet the deadline,” he explained.

“Anyone interested in seeing a beautiful Chennai with paintings and murals decorating its walls will be disappointed to see the first beautiful paintings withering away in less than six months,” said Mr Kishore, a Nandanam resident.

With Sardar Patel road, Cathedral road, Poonamallee high road, Medavakkam tank road, Kamarajar road to be decorated with paintings and murals, quality should be ensured by the city corporation. A leading artist, requesting anonymity, said good quality alone could help stop such disasters.