HYDERABAD: In a startling revelation, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has stumbled on the fact that 151 hoardings belonging to various advertising agencies have come up in the heart
of the city without either the knowledge or the clearance of the
corporation and evading advertising tax to the tune of several lakh of
rupees.

As per rules, the GHMC allots one number per hoarding
and the ad agency pays the annual advertising tax accordingly. “However,
for the last several years, the agencies have been using one permitted
number to install several hoardings. And while they pay the corporation
advertising tax for only one hoarding, they are actually making money in
crores of rupees through the additional illegal hoardings,” said an
official. Most of the unauthorized hoardings have come up in prime
locations like Ameerpet, Khairtabad, Abids, Dilsukhnagar and other city
core areas. Officials suspect some staffers of the corporation are hand
in glove with the advertising agencies in the scam.

The scam
came to light recently when the GHMC started allotting a unique
Advertising Identification Number (AIN) to each permitted hoarding under
its limits. Under the recently evolved system, the advertising agencies
should display the AIN number (AIN) on the hoarding along with details
like the name of the agency, location and size of the hoardings etc.

“In the old system, the advertising agencies need not display the
permitted number on that hoarding. Once we computerized the records and
generated one AIN number per hoarding, we found that some agencies have
been using one permitted number for all unauthorized hoardings located
in different areas and thus avoiding paying the advertising tax to the
municipal corporation,” a senior GHMC official said.

GHMC is
contemplating action against the agencies which have erected these
unauthorised hoardings. “The corporation will soon lodge a criminal case
against the defaulting agencies besides imposing a fine and
blacklisting them as per the act,” GHMC additional commissioner (advt) G D Priya Darshini
said on Tuesday. The additional commissioner said a meeting with all
advertising agencies will be held soon where it would be made clear to
them that within a month, all the permitted hoardings should display the
AIN allotted to them.

Officials said there are about 2,600
hoardings in the city and the illegal ones could number another 2,000.
In the GHMC council meeting held in May 2012, former deputy mayor Jaffer Hussain
raised the issue of unauthorized hoardings and even demanded that the
city be made ‘hoarding free’ on the lines of Chennai. While the total
advertising tax revenue is Rs 30 crore per annum, the revenue through
hoarding amounts to Rs 15 crore per annum. Earlier, several
irregularities were identified such as erecting hoarding at prime
location when permission was granted for other place, increased size of
the hoardings than permitted,

irregular advertising tax payments
etc.In the council meeting, officials claimed that 419 unauthorised
hoardings were removed in the city.