CHENNAI: Once again, a poster created by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for the "Kuppai Thiruvizha", a three-day-long waste collection drive launched across 200 wards of the Chennai corporation on Wednesday, drew criticism for the usage of imagery of women with multiple hands segregating the waste.
The mass garbage collection drive aims to ensure Zero Waste to Landfill and convert "formable" waste into a reusable resource in three days, from January 21 to January 23.
Unused garbage such as old papers, plastics, broken wooden items, faulty electronic equipment, useless glass items, and cardboard boxes will be collected from the public. It is also a statewide drive to create a culture of responsible disposal of waste among the people.
In such a backdrop, the GCC shared a post on the X handle, stating, "Bring the collected garbage to the collection centres of the Kuppai Thiruvizha (garbage festival)."
In reaction to this, GM Shankar, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state legal wing member, said, "Why does the Chennai Corporation always bring only women and Children in their posters related to garbage cleaning and toilet festivals.
And why couldn't this advertisement be made using men? Or couldn't it be made depicting both genders, and is the GCC's Gender and Policy Lab department sleeping," he questioned.
"Furthermore, as the woman depicted in this poster resembles a Hindu deity, the intended impact of your message is likely to be undermined. Therefore, on behalf of the state legal wing of the Aam Aadmi Party, I request that the civic body immediately change this design and release a version with a more appropriate visual representation," added GM Shankar.
An official in the Gender and Policy Lab department said, "I was unaware of the poster posted on social media." When asked about the poster, the GCC's social media head said: "I will check about the issue with the officials."
It is to be noted that a poster featuring a man urinating on a woman, and a minor girl with garbage on her head, unveiled for a month-long International Toilet Festival 3.0 in June last year, drew criticism.