Mira Bhayandar: Illegal banners installed to welcome CM, MBMC plays blind

In a clear violation of judicial orders, illegal banners to welcome chief minister Eknath Shinde were installed by local Sena leaders and volunteers all along the route as he visited the twin city on Tuesday. The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has chosen to look the other way as the illegally installed banners continued to deface the twin city.

Aimed at putting the brakes on the biggest eyesore, the MBMC had passed a resolution in the general body to roll back the system of giving permissions for putting up temporary flex banners and hoardings across the twin city from 1 October 2018. Notably, the MBMC became the first civic body in the state to pass such a resolution. However, despite the resolution and the Bombay High Court’s ruling to take strict action against illegal hoardings, posters and banners, political party members and private firms continue nailing digital flex boards on the trunk of trees, traffic signals and electric poles at public places with brazen impunity.

Apart from cutting the ribbons of the auditorium and inaugurating a skating rink, Shinde, who was on a visit to the twin city, unveiled statues of brave Rajput warrior Veer Maharana Pratap, Maratha warrior Chimaji Appa, and laid the foundation stones for the construction of a multi-speciality hospital and MBMC headquarter building on Tuesday.

It will be interesting to see whether the civic administration slaps notices and registers police cases under the relevant sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1995, against those installed illegal banners and hoardings in public places or remains a mute spectator to the illegalities.