BMC swooping down on unauthorised hoardings, banners in Mumbai

In a further bid to crack down on unauthorised hoardings and banners in the city of Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to lodge first information reports (FIRs) against persons who are found responsible for the display such unauthorised media. It emerges that such punitive action will help BMC to increase its revenues from political advertising. Currently, a lot of the political advertising in the outdoor in the city is understood to be unauthorised.

It may be recalled that in 20l0 a PIL was filed in the Bombay High Court regarding illegal hoardings and banners in the city. On hearing the PIL, the Bombay High Court directed all the civic bodies in the state to use the relatively stringent Defacement of Public Property Act in August to root out unauthorised media.

An affidavit filed by BMC Deputy Municipal Commissioner Rajendra Vale also said the civic body has forwarded over 100 complaints to the concerned police station of which, as per their knowledge, seven have been converted into FIRs. The data submitted to the division bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice AS Gadkari is updated till October 2014.

The BMC affidavit also said its officials will keep an eye on `special occasion' hoardings/banners like birthdays of leaders and religious festivals and will promptly remove them. In the affidavit BMC also said that the Senior Inspector License of a ward has been appointed as the modal officer for removing illegal hoardings and banners.

BMC License Superintendent S B Bande said that for political hoardings and banners BMC charged nominal fees from political parties as compared to commercial advertising. But some of the local leaders were seen to be displaying hoardings and banners without paying the fess.

An officer from the License Department of BMC said the civic body will earn around Rs 50 lakh annually through such political advertising. The BMC, however, expressed its inability to point out specific people who had actually put up the poster/banner illegally, saying most leaders whose pictures are used in the banner are not directly responsible for the displays. In such cases, the Court has suggested action may be taken against the local unit of the said party.

The affidavit also said Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) of the Mumbai Police has been apprised of the court order and even the nodal officers have been asked to inform senior police inspectors or assistant commissioners of police of their respective areas, so that they would provide help to BMC staff members when they go to remove illegal posters, banners and hoardings.