BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has set itself a target of removing almost 500 hoarding structures from the city in the next 14 days. So far, the corporation, under fire from the High Court for its delayed action against flex and hoardings, has managed to remove 100 structures on its own, while another 744 were removed by the owners themselves.
This data is likely to be submitted to the High Court on Monday, as the court resumes hearings on petitions to issue directions to remove all unauthorised flex, banners and hoardings in the city. In the previous hearing on September 17, the BBMP had told the court that 309 structures had been removed by the owners themselves, and 452 were removed subsequently. “We now have around 500 structures left and are working to remove these by the next two weeks,” said N Manjunatha Prasad, Commissioner, BBMP.
A further 54 structures were dismantled by the owners after FIR’s were registered against them. The BBMP had also stated that it would notify a new set of by-laws that would regulate advertising and call for objections from the public. The Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Policy, 2018, was approved by the Urban Development Department on September 11.
After regular hearings were taken up by the High Court, BBMP was pulled up repeatedly for its inaction over several years on the regulation of advertising. As a result, around 1848 final warning notices have been served so far and 759 FIRs have been registered.