BMP needs to streamline policy on hoardings

BMP needs to streamline policy on hoardings
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: It is total anarchy at the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) as far as regulating the hoardings in the city go. While there are hardly any hoardings that follow the rules, the civic body lacks the will to act on them.

It took a High Court order to make the BMP act on the violations in building bylaws and it seems to be waiting for a similar prodding to act on the hoardings. For starters, the official - contractor nexus has thrown the rule book out of the window and has under-reported the number of hoardings in the city.

Its statement that busy areas like Jayanagar, Gandhinagar, Koramangala and Shivajinagar have 20-30 hoardings questions the commonsense of the citizen. Hundreds of billboards are there in these areas for everyone to see. But the civic body would rather look the other way.

Another annoying feature of these hoardings is that most of them violate the law. The hoardings should not be blocking the light and ventilation to any building. The rule is based on the same logic as the offset rule for buildings.

The building setbacks are intended to prevent a building blocking air and light to another building. While the BMP is acting on the building bylaw violations, it is only logical that hoardings that are close to buildings be removed. But when was the last time the BMP demonstrated logic and reason?

Further, there are many hoardings that are close to electrical installations like transformers despite rules banning them. Hoardings are set up in the middle of footpaths adding to the general chaos.

To make matters worse, BMP officials try hard to defend the violators. The officials say the rule book itself is obsolete. That the advertisement rules set up in 1956 need to be revised may be a valid argument but it cannot excuse the officials from enforcing the present rules till they are revised.

A revised rule book is under government scrutiny but it is pending for an year. And in the meantime, many mayors promised to act on the unauthorised hoardings but broke their promises instead.