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.