In three days civic body pulls down 755 unauthorised hoardings put up by supporters of political leaders, including those congratulating new Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar

Enough is enough, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided. For the past three days the civic body has been aggressively removing hoardings put up by political sidekicks, popularly called chamcha hoardings.u00a0

So far, 755 chamcha hoardings have been removed by PMC's 14 ward offices and hundreds more are set to be pulled down. These hoardings conveying birthday wishes and congratulatory messages to political leaders have been a nuisance on the city roads.

The latest to be put up were those congratulating Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on their appointment.

PMC is a stronghold of Pawar's party. Pawar was also the guardian minister of the district.

Dada's instructions
In his first public felicitation at Nisarga Marriage Hall near Market Yard last Saturday, Pawar had appealed to his followers to scrap these hoardings. "Yes, I have already told my people to remove the hoardings," he told the media during his visit.

"We have been given strict instructions from Commissioner Mahesh Zagade to remove these hoardings," said Ramesh Shelar, head of Sky Sign Department, PMC. "Under section 244 and 245 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Act we are removing and destroying these hoardings at war footing. We have to complete 40 per cent of the work in the next three days. If the hoardings are removed, a new one comes up on the same spot next day itself."

Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal said: "As per Dada Pawar's wish, I have given strict instructions to remove these hoardings immediately. I have instructed all the 14 ward offices in the city that not a single hoarding should be seen by today noon. I myself avoid displaying such hoardings in my own ward in Rasta Peth."