Corpn looks the other way as advertisers nail trees

COIMBATORE: Though the city corporation and several NGOs have been regularly conducting drives to remove advertisement boards nailed to trees, they seem to crop up perennially. Several big trees in the city’s main areas sport advertisement placards nailed or tied to them.
A journey along roads in prominent areas such as Saibaba Colony and RS Puram showed several trees attached with advertisement boards.Majority of the advertisements were of tuition classes and coaching classes for competitive exams like NEET. While the boards have been nailed to big trees, they were found tied to smaller ones using metal wire.
Environmental activist M Yoganathan, who had launched a campaign to remove advertisement boards from trees in the Marudamalai area, said they had removed the boards from about 98 trees. “But, they came back very soon. Trees have become the easiest places to advertise. Trees provide free spaces for advertising, so many exploit them,” he told TOI.
“The city corporation had announced that it will impose a fine on those who nailed advertisements on trees. The advertisers’ contact number and address are there on the boards, making it easy to track and penalise them. But, the corporation has done nothing ,” he said.
Prasanna Kumar of Lead India Foundation said the organisation had been conducting several drives to remove advertising boards from trees. “But, within 10 days after we remove the boards, new boards come up. The new boards would have been put up by people, who had come from another area,” he said.
“We tried to educate the firms that had put up the advertisements. As they were not co-operating, we started removing the boards. We plan to do it again with the help of students,” he added.
Meanwhile, a corporation official said they will initiate action against those who fix the advertisements. “Assistant town planning officers have been empowered to file cases against those who nail advertising boards on trees. They will take action,” the official said.