Ongole is now poster-free, thanks to a vigorous campaign taken up by the Ongole Municipal Corporation by roping in like-minded civil society organisations.
Despite several warnings by authorities, walls of both public and private buildings used to be pasted with film and other posters. They keep resurfacing even as the authorities keep removing them.
But, it is no longer so, with the walls painted with attractive sceneries and thought-provoking messages to make the city environment-friendly.
Committed to developing the coastal Andhra city as a smart one with the whole-hearted cooperation of the denizens, the 140-year-old civic body has chalked out an action plan to ensure pleasant ambience for its citizens, says Municipal Commissioner S. Venkatakrishna.
“As part of the plan, we are going to spend about ₹ 30 lakh to fill all the public and private building walls with beautiful sceneries, which will last for at least five years,” he says.
Like-minded citizens and organisations have been enlisted to improve the quality of life of the denizens, and better its chance in moving up the ladder in the ‘Smart city’ challenge in 2018, he adds. Fining persons defacing public places did not have a salutary effect.
The campaign is also educative in nature as members of GenX can now draw inspiration from the great sons of the soil from Prakasam district. The walls carry the pictures of leading personalities from the district like Statesman Prakasam Pantulu, saint-composers Thyagaraja and Shyama Sastri, renowned engineer-cum-statesman Mokshagundam Visveswarayla and medieval poet Yerranna.
Happy over OMC’s action plan paying dividends, the Municipal Commissioner says “we have been able to persuade theatre owners to fall in line and keep the city clean and neat.” People in general have been thinking it is the job of the government to keep the city clean. But the perception is slowly changing, says a volunteer Srinivas busy giving a whitewash to the compound wall of the courts complex.