Hoardings: BMP to move court for vacation of stay

Hoardings: BMP to move court for vacation of stay

The Hindu

Civic body's new bylaw awaiting the Government's approval

# Stay order has been granted in about 80 cases
# Over the last three months, 78 unauthorised hoardings have been removed


Bangalore: There are no unauthorised hoardings in the city, claims the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP). Does this surprise you?

The claim, in fact, is true as most cases of hoarding violation that the BMP has identified are under legal dispute. About 80 cases, which include 687 hoardings, have been granted stay orders by the courts and it is because of this that the BMP refrains from calling them "unauthorised."

Sriramaiah, Assistant Commissioner (Development), told The Hindu that they had directed their advocates to submit to the court pleas for vacation of the stay orders. "The licence period of all hoardings in the city has expired. So, we have asked the lawyers to bring to the notice of the court that the orders have become infructuous," he said.

Over the last three months, 78 unauthorised hoardings had been removed, he said.

Owners of numerous hoardings in the city went to court sometime last year against the BMP. The civic body had said they had violated height limit, dimension limit and/or did not use Kannada.

Meanwhile, the BMP has not yet begun accepting applications for renewal or for new hoardings as the new bylaw remains to be approved by the State Government. "We expect the approval to be granted soon and then we will begin the process," R.R. Jennu, Joint Commissioner (Development) said.

Proposed bylaw

According to the proposed bylaw, no hoardings can be erected in the setback area of residential, commercial and semi commercial properties.

The BMP has also divided the city into four zones and set height restrictions for hoardings.

Hoardings of all kinds have been banned in the 10 areas of Zone A, which include Raj Bhavan Road (from High Grounds to Minsk Square), K.R. Circle, Chalukya Circle, Maharani College Road, near Cubbon Park and Lalbagh.

In Zone B, the maximum height limit for hoardings is 40 ft from the ground. Seshadri Road, Kamaraj Road, M.G. Road and Brigade Road are among the nine areas in this zone.

Hoardings in the 71 areas of Zone C have a limit of 50 ft from the ground.

Some of the areas in this zone are Yeshwanthpur and Mekhri Circle, Sampige Road, Racecourse Road and Cunningham Road.

However, there are no restrictions on height in Zone D. Outer Ring road, Mathikere Main Road, Pottery Road, Bull Temple Road, Airport Road (from 100 ft road junction to Ring Road junction) and Sarjapur Road come under the 72 areas in Zone D.

Increased revenue

The BMP also expects its revenue to rise substantially. It now receives an annual income of Rs. 6 crore from hoardings in the city.

Now that the proposed bylaw has brought hoardings at petrol outlets and cinemas among other places under the tax net, the revenue expected would be at least Rs. 25 crore, Mr. Sriramaiah said.

Monitoring and awareness

The new bylaw does not say anything about increasing the monitoring of violations. Mr. Sriramaiah said it was difficult to monitor as the task was demanding and required more staff. When asked about informing the public about new bylaw, Mr. Jennu said, "We will think about it. Maybe send out circulars or press releases so that they could report any hoarding violations."