GHMC stops OOH advertising in Hyderabad for a month as precautionary measure

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has placed new curbs on OOH business in the city of Hyderabad by imposing a one-month ban on placement of advertising flexes on hoardings and unipoles in view of weather disturbances forecast by the Met department in the coming days. The ban will be enforced until June 15 in the city whereby the authority has ordered the media owners to remove the existing flexes from their sites. The city has some 2,900 hoardings and 350 unipoles.

The decision was reportedly taken by the authority keeping in view the safety of people on the streets and property located around the advertising sites. Last year severe weather conditions had caused a few mishaps.

Confirming to this development, CDV Subba Rao, CEO, Prakash Arts said, “This is a common practice that authorities follow every year and definitely we are in support of it since it is to safeguard the people of Hyderabad. Currently the authority has notified for one month after which there will be a weather review and depending on it a further decision will be taken by the municipal body.”

The ban will surely impact the media owning business in the city. As Subba Rao shared, “A one- month ban costs us approx Rs 14-15 crore of business which is hard to bear. However, nothing much can be done since there are no proper rules and regulations existing in the Indian outdoor advertising space.”

As per the IMD report, the city is expected to experience up to 510 cm rains with gusty winds ranging between 100 and 150 km per hour. The weather conditions could also cause lightening, thunder and hailstorms in the coming month. The flexes have already been removed.