The Times of India 04.10.2010
75 ft unipole in Hazratganj makes LMC uneasy
LUCKNOW: A 75 ft unipole erected bang in the centre of the premises of Kasmanda Apartments in Hazratganj came under scanner of Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) on Sunday, days after the civic agency declared the locality a No Hoarding Zone.
Though a unipole of 20 ft is allowed in other localities, this structure standing side by side with a six-storeyed apartment, left the municipal officials gaping in surprise. Zonal in charge, Rajeshwar Singh said that they had already served a notice to the agency just around the time when Hazratganj was declared a No Hoarding Zone. “But instead of stopping the work, the agency went ahead and erected such a structure in gross violation of the orders,” he said. The violation invited the ire of the municipality on Sunday, even as a battery of municipal officials raided the premises of apartment complex to get the work stalled.
Erected by an advertising company, Origins, the structure looks like a chimney at the first glance till one approaches closer to realise its actual height which is alarmingly high. Singh said that the structure is also a potential threat to the houses nearby. Municipal sources said that the structure might well have to be bulldozed.
But more than the threat posed by the tall structure, it was declaration of Hazratganj as a No Hoarding Zone which stirred the municipal authorities to take stern action against the advertising agency. For you may find many more dangerously installed structures in other localities of the state capital, which, surprisingly go unnoticed.
The no hoarding category of Hazratganj has also enabled the authorities to raid even the private premises which was, however, not the case earlier according to the municipal rule book. More so, with no revenue from hoarding business at stake for the municipal agency, any such raid was all the more perceptible.
