Ragupathy Kandasamy was run over by a truck as he fell off his bike after hitting a signboard
The Madras High Court today directed to remove all hoardings and arches from the roads of Coimbatore, put up in connection with the MGR centenary celebrations on December 3. The court's intervention came days after a software professional died in an accident in Coimbatore.
A DMK legislator had filed a plea alleging that the hoardings and arches posed a safety hazard and cited the death of IT professional Ragupathy Kandasamy, who came to India from the US.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sunder, made it clear that all hoardings, banners and arches lining highways, public streets and pedestrian pavements should be removed immediately.
In his plea, DMK leader N Karthick had sought that these structures be declared illegal. He made the plea while referring to the death of the engineer on November 25 after being run over by a heavy vehicle. The accident happened when he fell down from his two-wheeler after the vehicle hit a wooden structure erected for the centenary celebrations on the main road.
When the plea came up for hearing today, Advocate General Vijay Narayan said all illegal arches, hoardings and banners were being removed.
The DMK MLA, who represents Singanallur constituency in Coimbatore, sought a direction to the government to pay compensation to the family of 32-year-old Ragupathy. Anger spilled over on social media and hours after the accident, someone painted "Who Killed Ragu?" in large, white lettering at the spot where Mr Ragupathy was killed.