Posters and boards on trees come off, as do nails

Mysuru: The many heritage structures that rise to rather modest heights along the cityscape are the pearls of the Heritage City, but what strings them together is a necklace of gardens, parks and leafy thoroughfares. Keen on preserving the verdant legacy of the city, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has initiated a drive to remove advertisements nailed to trunks of trees.
Notwithstanding the large number of trees being felled to make way for roads, and turning into casualties of development, Mysuru still boasts capacious lungspaces – Kukkarahalli and Karanji lakes, Nishad Bagh, et al – largely the result of the efforts of the forest department, and citizen organisations.
There are as many as 389 parks in the city, and the erstwhile rulers of Mysuru, the Wadiyars, with heightened sensibilities about urban spaces and a keen eye on beauty, planted a wide array of indigenous trees such as honge, peepal, mahogany, Ashoka, jacaranda and Mayflower saplings along the sides of the roads, many of which have grown into enormous leafy wonders dotting the expanse of the Heritage City.
The efforts of the government agencies to conserve the city’s green cover have been undermined by vested interests, who have used them as free pinning boards to advertise products and services. Many of these boards and placards have been nailed to trunks, posing a threat to the survival of the trees.
Along with the boards and posters, MCC personnel have been ordered to get rid of nails affixed to the trunks.
MCC health officer DG Nagaraj told TOI that the civic agency initiated the drive two weeks ago. “We launched the initiative at the Central Business District. We have captured photographs of illegal advertisement boards pinned to trees, and we will issue notice to those who have flouted civic rules,” he added.
A Bengaluru merchant, who had allegedly advertised his product by sticking and nailing posters to trees in Mysuru, was issued a notice, and subsequently penalised, Nagaraju said. “Personnel of our Abhaya Team, who are working in the project, have been equipped with the necessary machinery to remove nails in a scientific manner from the trees,” he said.