BENGALURU: Seven days after being pulled up by the Karnataka High Court for its lax attitude towards thousands of flex boards and banners defacing the city, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is all set to appear before the High Court on Wednesday and inform them about the progress made over the past week. On August 1, the civic agency had been given time till August 8 to remove all illegal flexboards, banners and hoardings across the city.
Over the past week, the agency has removed more than 21,000 flexboards and banners and has also taken action against several flex printing units. Around 15 FIRs have also been filed against violators including one against a BBMP corporator, in order to demonstrate that the BBMP is serious in this war against flex.
On Monday, a special BBMP Council meeting was called to discuss the Advertisement Policy where a decision has been taken to ban all kinds of flex, banners, posters and other advertising materials for a period of one year.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, on Tuesday said that he believed that almost all flex boards and banners had been taken down. “By our knowledge, we have removed 21,140 flex and banners, and we think we have got all of them,” he said. The Commissioner is also likely to submit an affidavit before the high court detailing the various steps taken over the past one week to comply with its directions.
In addition to targetting advertisers and those who appear on these boards, the BBMP has also issued show-cause notices to all flex printing units. Sources in the BBMP told TNIE that officials were contemplating cancelling the trade license of these units.
Drive not complete
While the civic agency might have succeeded in removing most of the illegal hoardings across the city, the drive is definitely not complete. A visit to certain areas around the city on Tuesday still showed flex banners, which have escaped the eye of the agency. Advertisements pasted on public property, on trees and other walls, are also yet to make a complete exit from the city. It remains to be seen if the drive will continue in the coming days.
Prepared to deal with posters
In the light of DMK leader M Karunanidhi’s death, the agency officials have geared up to deal with any flex, posters or banners that pop up around the city on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning paying homage to the leader. According to sources, instructions were issued on Tuesday to all officials to strictly stop any new hoardings or posters to pop up across the city.