Righting wall writings

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Dirty, tattered, half-peeled posters that clutter walls are an eyesore for all. But very few think of doing something about it, and fewer still take an active step in that direction. But the idea of making Delhi a poster-free and visually clean place prompted 78-year-old retired army colonel Shivraj Kumar to spearhead a campaign titled ‘Poster

Hatao’ a year ago with the help of MCD. This is now gaining momentum, and joining the drive are a large number of enthusiasts from college students to members of civil society, They are actively and enthusiastically working towards removing posters that have defaced buildings and furniture at public places.
“It all began with the idea of removing posters that made the walls around my home look ugly after the rains in August last year. We used bottle openers and iron plates to take off the posters. Since then my campaign has come a long way. The campaign aims at removing cloth banners across the roads and on trees, hoardings (especially political and local ads), posters like paper leaflets pasted on walls, road signs, colony guide maps, bus stops etc and writings on walls. In the past year, we have almost cleared banners from the city and hope to clean the rest by yearend,” says Shivraj, who started this initiative alongwith his wife. The septuagenarian has also created a ‘Poster Hatao’ page on Facebook and blogs to spread awareness on the issue.
The campaign functions under Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act of 2007, which states that sticking of posters, banners and wall-writings on public properties is a cognizable offence. The penalty is a fine of up to `50,000, a jail term of upto one year, or both. “The government is soon planning a legal space and more organised areas near commercial venues in the city for people to put up advertisements and other promotional posters,” shares Shivraj.
The drive has received a strong helping hand from DU students, who follow it, especially during elections, leading to negligible use of posters on campus. Says Nitu Dabas, secretary of DUSU, “We need more awareness and education among citizens. During elections, we ensure that posters are only pasted at the ‘wall of democracy’ allocated by our college authorities. Soon, we plan to come up with a body to take action against people who paste posters without legal consent.”
Devika Mittal, a student of Lady Shri Ram College, supports the drive and says, “Although posters and billboards are an important way to communicate, I feel illegal ones with no valid message should be banned. From horrible fraud babas’ posters to political hoardings in colleges, it’s each individual’s responsibility to come forward to remove one poster each day.”