Mysore/Mysuru: Following an outrage over the reappearance of flex boards and banners, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy has restricted their use or display in all the 65 Wards of the MCC with immediate effect.

These flex banners and posters cause visual pollution and mar the ambience in which they have been installed and a majority of boards have life-size images of local followers of political leaders greeting people or wishing their leaders on their birthdays.

In a press release, the Commissioner has stated that action will be henceforth taken against people who disfigure public places, open spaces, and other public areas for advertisements and also for other reasons. Apart from spoiling the beauty of the nature, these flex-banners and buntings pose a risk to motorists by diverting attention that might lead to accidents.

This apart, when the banners make way for other banners, they cause a lot of trash accumulation and would mar the visual appeal of the city. Henceforth, whoever erects buntings and banners in public places are liable to be punished as per the provisions of Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981 and The Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964.

Under the provisions of the Act, a person can be sent to six-month imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000 can be levied.

It may be recalled here that recently, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha had called upon the MCC and the District Administration to penalise violators who are defacing the city. He called for stringent punishment and also asked the authorities to initiate action even if it was his own party members who are indulging in such illegal acts.