17 firms fined for illegal hoardings
BHUBANESWAR:The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday penalised 17 firms and agencies for putting unauthorised advertisements and hoardings, which were removed during an enforcement drive recently. The Corporation has slapped demand notices on these firms and agencies seeking a penalty of `13.6 lakh.
The demand notice has been issued as per BMC Advertisement Regulations, 2006. “We will initiate certificate cases under Orissa Public Demand Recovery (OPDR) Act - 1962 if the organisations fail to pay the dues within seven days,” said BMC Deputy Commissioner (revenue) Srimanta Mishra.
As per the regulations, BMC is collecting `5,000 for removal of each unauthorised advertisement within the size of 100 square feet. If the size of the advertisement/hoarding exceeds100 square feet, the dismantling charge is `7,000, he added. Mishra said, “As the civic body has launched a drive to free the city skyline in the priority corridor of 40 km before the upcoming Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup, removal of unauthorised hoardings was necessary and the agencies were asked to pay the fee with immediate effect.”
Mishra informed that enforcement squads of BMC are continuing their drive to remove rooftop hoardings in view of the Hockey Wold Cup in November.We have removed 13 rooftop hoardings in the Chandrasekharpur and are continuing this crack down in Sishu Bhawan-Vani Vihar stretch on the Janpath road and CRP Square-Unit VIII DAV Public School road, he said. The enforcement will continue in the coming days and holding tax from house owners, who have installed such rooftop hoardings illegally, will be collected at commercial rates.