Following many complaints from Hyderabad residents over illegal banners and hoardings put up on the occasion of TRS’ plenary on October 25, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has imposed fines on several TRS leaders, including GHMC Mayor Vijayalaxmi Gadwal, ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Ch Malla Reddy, and MLAs Danam Nagender, Kaleru Venkatesh, Madhavaram Krishna Rao and Maganti Gopinath. The roads of Hyderabad were filled with pink ribbon festoons and large hoardings to mark the grand celebrations of TRS completing 20 years in politics on the day of the plenary.
The banners had blocked pavements in several locations, irking citizens. Based on complaints, the Central Enforcement Cell of GHMC’s Directorate Of Enforcement Vigilance & Disaster Management (EV&DM) issued multiple challans imposing fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh on many TRS leaders, on Thursday, October 28.
While the Directorate of EV&DM usually responds promptly to such complaints, the department had been unavailable for a few days ahead of the plenary, saying it had put e-challan generation on hold due to server maintenance and upgrading of software. The Central Enforcement Cell generated e-challans in response to many of the complaints about hoardings related to the plenary on Thursday.
A fine of Rs 5,000 was imposed for each violation of “unauthorised erection of banners and cutouts,” with each leader receiving several challans. A fine of Rs 2 lakh was imposed on Ragam Sujatha Nagender Yadav for two instances of “erection of unauthorised advertisement element above 15 feet in height from ground level.” TRS Madhapur Division President Erragudla Srinivas Yadav has been fined Rs 50,000 for one instance of “erection of unauthorised advertisement element below 15 feet in height from ground level.”
The plenary was held on Monday, October 25, at Hitex, where Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao spoke about the achievements of TRS in the last 20 years and the various schemes taken up in the seven years since it came to power in Telangana. KCR was also unanimously re-elected as the President of TRS, elected unopposed to the post for a ninth consecutive term.