This has become one of the classiest examples of hypocrisy. It is very well known that the flexis and banners are banned in Hyderabad city, and on the whole in Telangana state. But, despite the rules and regulations, the TRS party who in the first place enforced this rule is continuously disrespecting the regulations and raising the giant banners and flexis proclaiming the party’s images of the party members, including the chief minister KCR and KTR, and even the flags. In general terms, this is one classic example of power abuse. The GHMC which bashes the common people with massive fines is now staying silent on the TRS party’s public violation of these rules. People believe that the GHMC is in fact scared of the TRS-led government just because of the power dynamics.
Especially, recently, during the TRS Party Plenary, there were giant flexis and banners throughout the city, and GHMC Central Enforcement Division officials let the issue slide by putting up nominal fines in the Greater Hyderabad. Overnight, however, large-scale flexis appeared in the city. GHMC received over a thousand complaints on Twitter from the public in two days. Criticisms abound that enforcement officials only impose fines on complaints from the public and the whole issue would have been completely ignored if the public hadn’t voiced it out on social media platforms.
‘Opposition leaders are questioning the behavior of GHMC officials here. Earlier, there were incidents of GHMC officials imposing heavy fines on the opposition parties within an hour of raising the flexis in the city premises. Now, when the same has been done by the ruling party, the GHMC didn’t care to take any action until two days after the issue, and ironically, the flexis were right in front of everybody’s eyes on the main highways,” asking the people. The officials who are taking the fine amounts as formality should in fact take some serious preventive measures to avoid such incidents again. It looks like nobody has a clear answer to the situation today.
Criticisms abound that officials, who impose fines on ordinary peoples’ flexis for weddings and charity events, are only imposing a small amount of money when they are putting the pink banners and flexis all over the city. Criticisms are heard that the GHMC officials and other administrative members are scared of the ruling party leaders. Moreover, opposition leaders have accused the authorities of acting as puppets in the hands of the rulers.
It is noteworthy that despite the number of criticisms, the direct fines were not even in the tens. Minister Talsani Srinivas Yadav was fined Rs 2 lakh, the highest ever. TRS MLA Nagender was fined Rs 1 lakh, another MLA was fined Rs 50,000 and the matter was let go. While more than a thousand complaints have been received about the flexis set up in the city during the Plenary, there are allegations that only a nominal amount of them are being fined, then ignored. It is learned that fines of up to Rs 10 lakh have been imposed in total. Netizens are questioning the hypocrisy regarding the unequal fine imposition on the people of the state based on their power dynamics.
