PUNE: There was no let up
on the second day of the drive against unauthorised hoardings and
banners, as the civic staff pulled down 3,818 hoardings, flex boards and
banners from various part of the city, taking the number to 10,391
since Thursday.

The Bombay high court has extended the deadline to clear illegal hoardings till April 25.

A bunch of public interest litigations pertaining to illegal hoarding
in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Mira Bhayander and Satara had come up for
hearing before the high court bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar
and A P Bhangale on Wednesday. While hearing the matter, the judges had
orally set a 24-hour deadline for taking action against illegal
hoardings and submit an action taken report on Friday.

Abhijit Kulkarni, panel lawyer of the PMC,
said, “On Friday we submitted a report to the court about the action
that we took on Thursday. The court appreciated the effort and gave
order to continue the drive till April 25.”

Kulkarni said after
reviewing the action, the bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and A B
Bhangale expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the drive. “The bench
stated that measures should be taken to ensure that new hoardings do not
come again at places where action has been carried out. The court has
also suggested that the police’s help be taken, if needed,” Kulkarni
said.

The anti-encroachment department, sky sign permission,
building permission and health departments collectively carried out the
drive. According to officials there are around 2,123 legal hoardings in
the city.

‘Remove metal structures used to put up hoardings’

Citizens groups in the city have demanded that action should also be
taken against the structures on which illegal hoardings are mounted so
that unauthorised hoardings are eliminated permanently. “The drive will
be made more effective if the iron structures on which hoardings are
mounted are also removed. In many cases the administration has only
removed the posters and advertising material on these structures,” said
Ajay Vaishampayan, founder of UV foundation, in a letter written to the
civic administration.

He said that if the structures are not
removed properly, then the hoardings will crop up again. Many of these
have been put up on private and government land, without proper
permission.