He has been battling illegal hoardings in Tamil Nadu for over a decade now, but 84-year-old KR Ramaswamy is far from exhausted. In fact, Chennai's road safety crusader, popularly known as 'Traffic' Ramaswamy has taken a fresh oath, after a 23-year-old techie lost her life to an illegal hoarding in Chennai.
"Next time someone erects banners in the state, I will fight them so hard that they are sent to jail," he tells TNM, adding with a smirk that would live for 120 years and has plenty of time to engage in protracted legal battles.
In all seriousness, Ramaswamy has been a man of his words and plans to act this time as well. The 84-year-old has, in the past, filed over 400 public interest litigations against the placing of illegal banners and has been responsible for many changes in the state.
But with the death of 23-year-old Subhasri, Ramaswamy is clear about one thing - the onus of removing banners has to be placed on police officers and corporation officials.
"To my knowledge, at least 34 people in Tamil Nadu have lost their lives due to the placement of illegal banners. Two of them were police officers. My question is, what are the state's police officers and civic body officials doing instead of discharging their duty and removing banners," he tells TNM.
On Thursday evening, hours after Subhasri - a 23-year-old Chennai techie - was run over by a tanker lorry after a loose hoarding fell on her at the Thuraipakkam-Pallavaram radial stretch, Ramaswamy filed a complaint at the Pallikaranai police station, urging officers to book those responsible for the death.
"I filed a complaint under section 166 A of the IPC (Public servant disobeying direction under law) and 217 (public servant disobeying law with intent) against the negligent police officers and corporation officials and the AIADMK man who was responsible for putting up the banners. However, so far, the cops have only arrested the innocent lorry driver who could not have done anything at the time," he adds.
Ironically, the man responsible for putting up the banners is absconding. S Jayagopal, the former AIADMK councillor who put up the loose hoardings for his son's wedding checked himself into a private hospital soon after the accident. On Monday, the state police disclosed to TNM that they have no clue about his whereabouts and also haven't questioned his family and friends following the incident.
"I had appealed to the officers to arrest the man in the hospital. But senior officers were reluctant to do so. They wanted to wait until he had been discharged," he adds.
The 84-year-old's relentless crusade against illegal hoardings has not been limited to challenging police officers and party men. It has even led him to collide head on with the top brass of the state bureaucracy. In 2017, the Madras High Court ordered a ban on digital hoardings and banners with images of living persons on them. In 2018, Traffic Ramasamy moved a contempt petition in the HC against the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu for failing to implement the court’s order on unauthorised digital banners, following which the court issued an interim order restraining all political parties from erecting banners.
Cut to January 2019, Ramaswamy filed a contempt of court plea against the Chief Secretary over non-compliance of the court order.
With the latest death, the Madras HC took cognisance of Ramaswamy's contempt plea and ordered an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to be given to Subhasri's family, allowing the government to recover the sum from the salaries of the errant officers. The court also ordered disciplinary action against police officers and corporation officials who caused the young woman's death.
After Subhasri's tragic demise, political leaders and actors have loudly decried the cut-out culture prevalent in the state. While DMK chief MK Stalin said that he will not attend events if there are banners erected illegally, actors Suriya and Vijay appealed to their fans to stop erecting their cut outs. Actor Ajith's Madurai fans association too pledged to not erect banners of the actor henceforth as it poses a risk for the public.
Ramaswamy hopes for some change and a little more awareness, now that prominent figures from the state have engaged in the discussion. However, his personal battle against illegal cut-outs is far from over. Last year, the 84-year-old was physically assaulted with slippers by AIADMK cadre for opposing illegal banners which commemorated the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. This year, he continues to oppose unauthorised cut-outs and hoardings, but with a slight change.
"I used to go and tear down these hoardings earlier. Now I call police officers to come and tear them down. If they don't I will file police complaints against them and see to it that action is taken," he says.