Techie run over by water tanker after AIADMK leader's hoarding falls on her

Chennai: A 23-year old woman techie riding a two-wheeler lost balance and fell down after an illegal hoarding put up by an AIADMK functionary crashed on her and she was run over by a water tanker that came just behind her, police said.

The ruling AIADMK and main opposition DMK, meanwhile, asked their respective party cadres to not erect hoardings inconveniencing the general public.

Also, other parties including the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam aired the same view and wanted their cadres to desist from the practice.

The Madras High Court, hearing a plea on the matter on Friday, took a tough stand against illegal hoardings and wondered “how many more litres of blood the state government needs to paint the roads with.”

The court has asked officials to appear before it in the afternoon.

When she was proceeding on the arterial Pallavaram Thoraipakkam radial road after completing her shift at a software firm at Kandanchavadi on Thursday, the woman identified later as R Subashri fell on the road after the hoarding put up on the median crashed on her.

A water tanker, which came behind the woman’s vehicle ran over her and she was pronounced brought dead at a local hospital. The tanker driver was arrested for rash and negligent driving and a case has been registered against him.

The young woman’s death has led to an outrage on illegal hoardings being put by political parties despite them causing inconvenience and posing a threat to people’s safety.

Social media was flooded with comments against the illegal hoardings and people expressed their anguish on the death of the young woman.

Following its complaint, police have filed an FIR against the AIADMK functionary and action will be taken as per law, the Chennai Corporation said adding the printing unit which printed the hoarding that fell on Subashri has been sealed.

The hoarding was put up without obtaining permission from Corporation authorities by a local AIADMK functionary for his son’s wedding at a hall near Pallikaranai here.

According to the TN Urban Local Bodies (Permission for Erection of Digital Banners and Placards) Rules 2011, the printer’s licence will be cancelled and unit sealed if permission was not taken for erecting hoardings or banners.

As per the rules, the publicity hoardings must have a footnote giving details like permission number, date, the number of hoardings permitted, time frame during which the hoardings can be displayed and the name of the press where it was printed.

In separate statements, the leadership of the AIADMK, DMK, AMMK asked their cadres to not put up hoardings or banners.