Editorial
Proposed restriction on poster and graffiti
We welcome the move
Indiscriminate use of wall spaces in the city for postering or etching graffiti has directly eroded the aesthetics of the city landscape. The situation is compounded by setting up huge billboards atop buildings or pitched at street corners without a bother for public safety.
For the present, however, we concern ourselves with poster and graffiti because a bill has just been placed in the parliament to impose ban on them. The illegality of such pernicious forms of advert lies in these being invasive on private and public buildings alike. Postering and graffiti are ubiquitous being actuated by a wide range of motives. This includes politics, seeking release of arrested persons or criminals and various other social, educational and commercial messages.
It is good to know that local bodies will allocate places for carrying out such advertising purposes thus freeing large parts of the Dhaka landscape of the tainted brushes. Penalties have been prescribed. The proposed law will give a timeframe to the scribblers of the graffiti and posters to remove these to designated locations.
The only waiver is contemplated during campaigning for polls when the barriers might get broken. Still, one good idea would be to set a maximum limit to the waiver.
In all, these conjure up the picture of greater law enforcement load on the shoulders of the agencies concerned. We wonder when most other bans flounder on the rock of non-enforcement or fragmented enforcement, how the additional responsibilities will be handled is to be seen to be believed!
You cannot legislate civic sense; it ought to emanate from within. For instance, in Hongkong the government at its own costs painted all buildings. And when the city dwellers woke up to see the clean look, a sense of cleanliness was automatically instilled in them. It's all a matter of demonstrative effect, living by example rather than words.
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