The Kochi Corporation will remove barricades erected by the city police between Vyttila and Edappally along National Highway 47.

Though
the civic administrators had issued a notice to the city police for
their removal, the barricades remained there eight days later.

The police reportedly erected the barriers to prevent unauthorised crossing of the busy road across the median.

Display of advertisements

Deputy
Mayor T. J. Vinod said the police were trying to make money by
permitting advertisements on the barricades. Legally, no advertisements
are permitted in the city without clearance from the civic body.

“In this case, the advertisements were displayed illegally and without the clearance of the corporation,” he said.

The civic body would complete the legal formalities and remove the boards shortly, he added.

The
High Court of Kerala had prohibited the display of advertisements along
the median of the national highway, he said. An attempt to allow
billboards on lamp posts along the median was also rejected by the
authorities. Under such circumstances, agencies such as the police
should have refrained from the illegal display of advertisements, he
said.

Beautification project

Meanwhile, the Cochin Bypass Beautification Society officials said they were waiting to hear from the authorities on the issue.

When
the Society entered into a tripartite agreement with the corporation
and the National Highways Authority of India for the beautification of
the road stretch, it was agreed upon that no advertisements would be
displayed there, said M.E. Muhammad, secretary of the Society.

It
was also agreed that the workers engaged by the Society would be
permitted to prune the branches of trees along the median. But, two
months ago, the police held a worker for pruning the branches of trees,
he said.

The Society would have introduced measures for preventing
illegal crossing of the national highway as reported by police. If the
authorities failed to settle the issue, the Society would withdraw from
the project, he said.

It was nearly three years ago that the
Society came forward for beautifying the stretch. “It has already spend
Rs. 1.10 crore for the beautification project,” Mr. Muhammad said.

Police trying to make money by permitting advertisements on barricades, says Deputy Mayor