Greater Chennai Corporation has removed advertisement skins from 73 illegal hoardings across the city, but 43 steel structures remain on building tops and along roads as strong northeast monsoon winds renew concerns over public safety. The civic agency has identified 109 unauthorised hoardings across Chennai and said its removal drive will continue.
The action follows a series of inspections across several parts of the city, including 200 Feet Road in Korattur, SIDCO Industrial Estate, Poonamallee High Road, Nelson Manickam Road, Dr Radhakrishnan Road and the Anna Salai–Cenatoph Road junction. At several locations, the advertising material has been removed while the underlying steel scaffolding remains in place.
GCC commissioner G S Sameeran told The Times of India that 109 illegal hoardings had been identified across the city. “The skins of 73 hoardings in the city have been removed. We have also removed 30 structures. The work will continue,” he said.
The remaining structures have drawn renewed attention after a steel hoarding collapsed in Maduravoyal in June during wind and rain, causing panic among road users. Residents and civic activists have urged the corporation to remove the complete structure wherever a hoarding is unauthorised or poses a safety risk, rather than limiting action to the advertising skin.
The issue was also raised by anti-corruption organisation Arappor Iyakkam, which submitted evidence of at least 23 illegal hoardings to the chief secretary on October 30. The corporation subsequently identified 52 hoardings at 29 locations across five zones: Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam.
Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan said the drive should not become a temporary exercise and called for the structures to be removed within days, citing the monsoon. Residents have also complained that the number of hoardings has doubled in parts of the city over the past two years and that some structures appear visibly slanted.
The state municipal administration department has extended the drive beyond Chennai. Municipal administration and water supply secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi said all local bodies had been instructed to remove unauthorised hoardings. He added that authorised hoardings were required to have structural stability and pay the applicable fees.
The remaining work will involve removing structures identified as illegal or unsafe, while inspections and enforcement continue across the Greater Chennai Corporation and other local bodies, according to the officials cited in the report.
