MP Government's unprecedented policy worries outdoor stakeholders

Following a prompt almost 75% of outdoor media removal, Urban Development and Environment Department of Madhya Pradesh has recently published a draft of outdoor media policy that is being viewed as "arbitrary” and "prohibiting” by the industry stakeholders of the state and national associations. Apparently, the draft policy imposes unrealistic burden of rules, laws and baggage of fees. Reacting to the draft, Rajesh Jain, Director Adworld and President, Indore Hoardings Traders Association, said, "First of all, this draft was issued on their website and has not been published in any of the newspapers unlike it should be done ideally. It focuses completely on an unrealistic approach and contributes nothing towards the survival of outdoor media in the state. The situation is such that even a shopkeeper can't put his signage outside his business without going through complicated process of legalities. Regulations like a text matter of an advertisement shouldn't be more than 20% of the display or banning hoardings on rooftop or beyond the building line are insensible and meaningless.”

Opposing the pull-down of hoarding in last two months, Indore Hoardings Traders Association and MP Hoardings Owners' Association have already gone into litigations with the MP Government. The recently-published draft bans traditional formats like street furniture, wall wraps, hoardings etc and brings rules of Indian Road Congress and National Building Code of India into the periphery of outdoor media policy. "If every hoarding approval has to go through a process as complicated as passing for a building, we can't see much of growth for the industry in the state,” added Jain. Volunteering on behalf of more than 10,000 stakeholders from the state including vendors, printers, housing societies etc, the state and city associations have put up their oppositions.

Extending IOAA's support in this juncture, Indrajit Sen, Consultant with IOAA, commented, "If adopted state-wide, the policy will set an extremely poor precedent which has all possibilities of destroying the industry. Besides the fees proposed - which are ridiculously high - other provisions also are very stiff and prohibitive. Hence, it is a matter where IOAA can step in and support the MP owners.”