The Times of India                  02.04.2013

Illegal hoardings ruin cityscape as rules get go-by

CHENNAI: Despite a ban by the Supreme Court, hoardings of all shapes and sizes still obtrude upon the skyline.

The Madras high court has on several occasions warned Corporation of Chennai of stern action if the civic body failed to remove the hoardings. But the corporation appears to have blinkers on when it comes to hoardings and has refused to take any action to remove them or prevent new ones from being put up.

The collectorate issues permissions to erect temporary flex boards and billboards, but only after the applicant receives a 'no objection' certificate from the corporation. However, the corporation and collectorate do not have any data on how many permissions have been granted and how many illegal hoardings there are in the city.

Members of Tamil Nadu Outdoor Advertising Association, a body of the city's hoarding owners, say most of the hoardings in the city are unauthorised. Tamil Nadu Outdoor Advertising Association secretary A G Nayakam said the members were not against the removal of illegal hoardings in the city. "But the corporation should permit hoardings in certain places," he said.

Nayakam said corporation officials should first remove hoardings and banners put up by political parties because they are the most flagrant violators of the rule.

There are thousands of hoardings across the 424sqkm limits of the city corporation.

A recent PIL filed in the Madras high court by activist 'Traffic' Ramasamy contended that politicians, companies, social organisations and private individuals put up digital banners and hoardings without permission. In response, the city collectorate told the court that it had removed 38 hoardings on February 2 and 3. Seven had been put up by political parties.

On the other hand, when the Bombay high court gave Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation 24 hours to pull down illegal political banners and hoardings, the Mumbai civic body pulled down more than 5,000 hoardings and Pune Municipal Corporation, 6,577, in one day.

An activist said when the corporation does remove hoardings it is usually just eyewash. "They remove a few hoardings on the court's orders and then allow new ones to be put up," he said. "It would be better to either regularise unauthorised hoardings to raise revenue or remove them all."