THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving a sigh of relief to the flex board industry, the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to bring in relaxations to its earlier decision on total flex ban in the state.
The Cabinet brought in strict restrictions, including a complete No No for flex boards in government functions and advertisements while making it clear that flex boards cannot be displayed without prior permission.
Elaborating on the decisions in this regard, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the Cabinet approved the sub-committee report on flex ban in the state. Ministers Aryadan Mohammed, Manjalamkuzhi Ali and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan were part of the sub-committee.
“There will be strict restriction on the use of flex boards that cause environmental and public health issues. As per the earlier decision, no flex boards will be used for government functions and programmes. Political parties would be urged to stay away from use of flex boards,” Chandy said.
However, there won’t be total flex ban in the state. The government received a lot of petitions from people who have been involved in the flex industry for many years. Taking into consideration the demands of labourers in this sector, restrictions would be implemented in a phased manner only.
As per the decisions taken in this regard, flex boards for advertisement cannot be displayed anywhere without legal permission.
Local self-government officials should take urgent action to remove illegal flex boards. Flex ban on government functions would be applicable to all departments. Flex boards cannot be displayed at public roads without special permission. No permission would be given for boards blocking vehicular traffic. The decision has been taken to remove advertisement boards, notices and other display materials on electric posts.
Also, metal cladding would be set up around posts and permission would be given for displaying advertisements after paying a fee.
The Clean Kerala company has been entrusted by the government to do the follow up in this regard while making it clear that the ownership of electric posts would be with KSEB only.
While granting permission to set up display boards, local self-government bodies should ensure that the applicants’ name, licence number and period of contract are also displayed. Such a norm would be included in the rules and regulations. Permission would be given to display boards only on locations where prior permission is given. Boards diswithout permission and at prohibited areas should be removed. Those involved in such cases would not be given permission later.
Taking back the flex boards for reuse would be the responsibility of the advertisement agency concerned. Boards should be removed immediately on termination of the contract period.
Boards and banners which would be set up inside a frame wooden or plastic frame, should not be nailed to trees. Also no permission should be given for display boards to be set up on road dividers.
Flex boards and banners collected by local bodies should be disposed of as per the provisions of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011. The Cabinet further decided to appeal to political parties and public organisations to avoid flex boards and display banners.
Two More Holidays for Govt Staff
T’Puram: Adding two more public holidays to the State Government calendar, the Cabinet has decided to declare Mannam Jayanthi and Ayyankali Jayanthi as public holidays. A decision has also been taken to make Vishwakarma day as restricted holiday. The new holidays would soon be included in this year’s calendar, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said. Asked about the more number of public holidays in the state compared to the public holidays of the Union Government, Chandy said that there were more working days in the state as the Centre has a five-day week system.