Thiruvananthapuram: The tendency to paste posters on every wall in sight is shocking. A recent incident in this regard took place in the state capital.

In 2016, the Tourism Department and the state government had launched the Arteria project as part of city beautification. It involved creating artwork on the walls along the major roads in the city. A few days ago, even these artworks were not spared by people pasting posters.

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However, the defaced paintings were quickly noticed by social media groups such as Trivandrum Indian and the issue came to the notice of the authorities as well as the public. Within a day, damage control was launched.

One among the institutions whose posters had appeared on the paintings sent its staff to remove the publicity materials and they cleaned the walls. When the other institutions took no action, the city Mayor V K Prasanth himself came to the spot accompanied by the Green Army team and cleared the walls of the posters. It was also decided to impose a fine on those defacing the paintings.

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The publicity materials had appeared on the recreation of a painting by noted artist K G Subrahmaniyam on the wall near the bus shelter at Palayam. Images of the posters pasted over the painting were clicked by passersby and posted on social media groups. These photos were in no time widely circulated, setting off a discussion on social media.

Social media users also brought the issue to the attention of the Mayor through Facebook. Prasanth soon replied that he had taken note of the matter.

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Even though Arteria walls are spared by organisers of events while pasting posters, this convention was given a miss this time. However, the organisers of a used book festival underway in the capital whose posters had also appeared over the paintings rushed to the spot on noticing the social media campaign and cleaned the walls. They soon posted an apology on Instagram, explaining that it was the contractor tasked with pasting posters who had committed the error.

However, the others whose posters too had appeared kept quiet, forcing the Mayor to intervene personally in the issue.

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