50-year-old ad bylaw to go

50-year-old ad bylaw to go
DH News Service Bangalore:
The BMP will replace its 50-year-old advertisement bylaw (1956) with a new bylaw on July 1. On Thursday, the Council passed a resolution for implementation of the comprehensive (new) bylaw. Even as it awaits government approval, the Hoardings Sub-Committee, which held a meeting on Wednesday, urged the BMP Commissioner to pull down all illegal hoardings across the City.

It also sought the licenses of the authorised hoardings to be renewed as per the new bylaw.

“The BMP is losing out on revenue as hundreds of hoardings are under litigation. The Commissioner should initiate steps to get the court stay orders vacated,” said Mayor Mumtaz Begum. “The hoardings generate a revenue of Rs 5 crore and we need to safeguard our interest,” she added.

Meanwhile, the new bylaw was mooted as the existing law has no provisions and guidelines for the new-generation advertisements. “The advertising world has undergone a sea change and we need to expand the scope of the bylaw to newer forms of advertisements.

According to BMP officials, the new bylaw will revise norms for erecting and display of hoardings. No hoardings will be allowed within the prescribed residential, commercial properties. A major change will be inclusion of shop advertisements within BMP’s purview. All shops, cinema halls, petrol bunks will now have to pay tax for all their shop advertisements on glass panes and building surface.

Tenders cancelled

The BMP has cancelled three tenders awarded to KNR Agency recently. According to BMP Commissioner K Jairaj, there will be re-tendering for Rs 180-crore package under the World Bank project. “The decision was taken after the BMP found out that the Agency had failed to complete its previous projects within the stipulated time. Even the quality of the completed works was not satisfactory. We had to cancel the tenders,” said Jairaj.

Days after the BMP employees refused to part with a day’s salary for the construction of a glass house and a statue of matinee idol late Rajkumar, BMP councillors were still debating as to who will fund the project costing nearly Rs 3.5 crore. Even as the Mayor and the councillors debated over the issue, the Commissioner put an end to the confusion by announcing that the BMP would bear the project costs.

During the discussions on the pathetic state of KR market Subway, the Commissioner assured the meeting of major changes within the next two months. “All markets will be upgraded in two months. We have set aside Rs 3 crore for the purpose,” he said.