Vadodara: While Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided to develop the walled city as a heritage area, hoardings and signboards put up recklessly deface the area and are an eyesore. Such hoardings are even put up on the historical Mandvi that is like the vortex of the old city.Hoardings and boards of religious events or those put up by politicians or political parties are widely seen in the walled city. They stay put even days after the event for which they have been installed is over. Sources say that in some cases, the civic body's permission too is not taken for putting up such hoardings.While the VMC has remained a mere spectator to these hoardings dotting the areas that have heritage properties, a concerned citizen has written to the civic body and all those who regularly put up such hoardings.Kirti Parikh, a resident of the old city, who takes up issues pertaining to the area from time to time shot off a letter to religious heads, politicians, officials and persons from various organizations recently and sought an end to the trend of putting such hoardings frequently. VMC sources said at times there was political pressure that such hoardings should not be disturbed or brought down.In the past, this was done as a drive when the then municipal commissioner H S Patel had brought out a notification banning such hoardings at prominent locations in the city.Parikh said it pained that such hoardings came up near heritage properties like Khanderao Market, Nyay Mandir, the four gates of the old city, Mandvi, Central Library and others.He said the hoardings dwarfed the magnificence of these structures.Parikh's letter does not seem to have gone unnoticed. When contacted VMC commissioner Dr Vinod Rao said he was aware about the issue raised by Parikh. "We are looking to come up with a policy in this regard. It will be placed before the general board," he said.

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