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Home » OOH News » Hyderabad media owners protest against govt’s hoardings removal order

Hyderabad media owners protest against govt’s hoardings removal order

By M4G Bureau - November 30, 2020

The local outdoor media owners' association has appealed to the Minister of State for Home Affairs to intervene in the matter

Hyderabad-based outdoor media owners have recently undertook a peaceful protest to oppose the new ruling regarding removal of outdoor display sites above the height of 15 ft from the ground level and completely bans roof top hoardings.

The new outdoor advertising policy was issued in the month of February this year by the department of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) under Government Orders (GO) no 68 relating to the safety of pedestrians.

Presenting a counterpoint, the representatives of Hyderabad media owners stated that although due to nature calamity many structures were damaged but there was no human loss. Also, it was ensured that the outdoor industry always gives first priority to the safety of public and OOH industry. 

The regional outdoor body i.e. Outdoor Advertising Media Association has appealed to Gangapuram Kishan Reddy, Minister of State for Home Affairs, who is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party and member of parliament representing Secunderabad (Lok Sabha constituency) since 2019. The body has asked to intervene in the matter and safeguard outdoor hoarding advertising agencies.

The letter obtained by Media4Growth mentions that 5 lakh people are dependent directly and indirectly in the regional OOH industry and INR 200 crore loss of revenue to the government. The letter said, “We are requesting your kind utmost intervention in this regard.”

The letter highlights that in the peak of national lockdown, the MA &UD dept brought out a G.O. MS. No. 68 dated 20-04-2020 which permits only ground hoardings up to height of 15 ft & completely bans roof top hoardings. It added, “This single condition among many such conditions is enough to remove 100% hoardings and unipoles within GHMC limits.”

“As you are aware that after Telangana state was newly formed, there were no new tenders called. Earlier, they called for tender to construct FOBs. After which, the commissioner of GHMC and Hon’ble Mayor of Hyderabad called for meeting with FOB awarded agencies and they put a condition that the government has decided that there will be no horizontal display allowed and they cancelled all the tenders and the same were allotted to other agencies with no experience in outdoor advertising and they did not put any conditions for them,” the letter said showing discrimination by the authorities.

On the contrary, the letter recalls support provided by the OOH industry giving example of ‘Telugu Maha Sabhalu’ event and at the time Ivanka Trump visited Hyderabad for an international event GES 2017.

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