KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation will convene a special council meeting to decide on allotting a dedicated space for erecting advertisement hoardings in the city limit. The directive to identify a dedicated space for the advertisement boards came after the Kerala High Court issued a direction to allow the local bodies to remove unauthorized flex boards/billboards/advertisement boards/flags.
The order was issued by justice Devan Ramachandran while considering two petitions which highlighted the menace of flex boards and unauthorised advertisements in public space. “A Bangalore-based agency has been entrusted to find the suitable place to erect advertisement boards. They have already finalised some list. However, we can not take a final decision based on this. The councillors can give their own suggestions to identify the dedicated places. So the Mayor will convene a special meeting to finalise the dedicated space for erecting the advertisements. We hope within a month the council meeting will be called,” said Shiny Mathew, Town Planning Committee chairperson.
According to the chairperson, a penalty will be imposed for the illegal advertisements. “So far the government has not issued any guidance on collecting fine for the illegal hoardings. The council will also decide the matter and based on that the amount will be fixed,” added Shiny Mathew.
Meanwhile, the Corporation has also decided to constitute a special team for taking action against the illegal advertisement boards in the city limit. “A team under the Revenue Department has been constituted to identify illegal advertisements. The hoardings will be allowed only in the dedicated space. If we find any illegal advertisements, the Corporation will be forced to cancel the licence of the organisation,” she said.
Earlier, Corporation secretary A S Anuja said all the flex boards in the city have been removed based on the High court’s direction. “If we find any illegal flex boards it will be removed without further notice. A hefty fine will also be charged,” she had said.