Chennai: The Chennai corporation which recently announced a ban on posters and graffiti on its buildings and bridges, on Tuesday extended the ban to its streetlights and junction boxes. Senior officers of the corporation who held a meeting to discuss  the issue, instructed the field staff to remove advertisements and banners attached to  electric posts to begin with.

Levying of a fine against those pasting posters on the civic body's lamp posts was also considered at the meeting. But the field staff of the electrical department feel there are not enough of  them to carry out the orders over the whole of the city.  Despite the recent expansion of the corporation limits no additional staff  has been recruited, they regret.

“We were not allowed to express our views on the matter,” complained a field staffer who attending the meeting. “Besides attending to faulty lights, now the corporation want us to remove bill boards. While every zone needs at least five hydraulic vehicle to handle malfunctioning  electric posts,  the few vehicles we have are under the control of the mechanical department and are hard to access when needed,” said one officer.

Corporation commis­sioner Vikram Kapur admitted the shortage of hydraulic vehicles but said the zonal officers were permitted to hire vehicles if need be. He also assured the  corporation would recruit more staff to meet its requirements.