Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister KT Rama Rao has advised people in Hyderabad and across the state, against putting up large banners and hoardings, ahead of his birthday which falls on July 24.
KTR on Sunday responded to a Twitter user, who posted a picture of one such banner and pointed out that the Minister should guide his well-wishers to spend the money more wisely.
"Absolutely agree with you. Request my friends who are spending money on hoardings and paper advertisements to donate the same to Chief Minister's Relief Fund (sic)," the Minister tweeted.
He also said that he had directed Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Janardhan Reddy and Mayor Bonthu Rammohan to take down all such hoardings as soon as possible.
In January this year, three people including a TRS corporator, a former corporator and another party leader, were fined by the GHMC after they put up banners and flexis of senior party leaders near the indoor stadium at Moosarambagh.
According to reports, KTR objected to the violation of rules and asked GHMC officials to levy a penalty of Rs 50,000 on corporator Sunaritha Reddy, Rs 25,000 on ex corporator Aslam and Rs 25,000 on TRS leader Srinivas.
In a statement at the time, GHMC Mayor Bonthu Rammohan said that the rule applied to everyone, and not a single person would be spared, no matter who they were.
In July last year as well, in a similar move, KTR took to Twitter to ask the GHMC to remove posters and banners that were celebrating his birthday.
In 2016, the GHMC said that it had identified over 2700 hoardings and over 300 unipoles in the city, of which every zone still has nearly 20 flexes displaying advertisements on hoardings in the city.
This was despite a direction from the Hyderabad High Court in 2014, that asked the two states to take steps to remove all unauthorized flexes, cutouts and statues of political leaders.