Median sponsorships to go

Median sponsorships to go
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Road medians in the city are covered more by advertisements than greenery. Agencies that sponsor these lung spaces merely pay lip service to their commitment to maintain greenery.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is thinking of cancelling all sponsorships of medians and parks and is instead hoping to invite major corporates to adopt them.

“The advertisers show tremendous interest in buying sponsorships for medians and traffic islands in the central business district of the city. But they turn these areas into advertisement spaces. Hoardings are erected to make a fast buck while very little attention is paid to maintaining their beauty,” said BMP deputy conservator of forests Krishna Udupudi.

Medians and islands, if maintained properly, offer soothing green space on busy roads. But many medians have backlit hoardings every 10 metres and so the greenery becomes invisible, Udupudi feels.

The BMP recently cancelled sponsorship of the Bellary road medians and the sponsoring agency went to court and obtained a stay. Udupudi said legal measures would be taken to vacate the stay and the city would be given its greenery. The BMP will now invite big corporate houses to adopt the green spaces for maintenance.