The Times of India          31.10.2013

KMC regularizes 591 hoardings, mops up Rs 41 lakh

KOLHAPUR: The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has since last week regularized 591 of the 618 identified hoardings and mopped up Rs 41 lakh with the deadline for the regularization process ending on November 1.

The KMC had issued a public notice in April for the regularization of such hoardings. However, it had not received any response till last week. The response for the notice started after the KMC issued another notice and intimidated that the final date for the process will be November 1 and would take action against the hoarding operators if those were not regularized before the deadline.

Estate officer Sanjay Bhosale said, "Till last week, we had not received any response from the hoarding operators. We were losing revenue from these hoardings. On Tuesday itself, we generated Rs 10 lakh through the regularization process. The rates for the hoardings are charged according to the new hoarding policy approved by the state government last month."

The KMC has started the survey of notifying the hoardings in the property and appealed to the residents to provide the information if there were any such structures in their respective areas. "We didn't have any policy for the hoardings displayed at the private properties before April. However, considering it as a potential source to generate significant amount of the revenue we had decided, we started charging these hoardings. According to the policy, we are charging Rs 7,000 per hoarding unit for its regularization." Till date, the KMC has generated Rs 41 lakh from the regularization process.

According to the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2010, it has been made mandatory for the urban local bodies to regularize the hoardings on the private property. The urban bodies have also got the right to impose fine of Rs 2,000 on those installing hoardings illegally.

"After the regularization work is completed, we are going to charge the advertisement rates that will be revised periodically. We are currently charging Rs 40 per sq ft a month for advertisements," Bhosale added.

The charges are high as compared to the hoardings installed on the municipal corporation spaces. The new hoarding policy proposes a hike in the rental charges for the installation for the permanent hoardings from Rs 3.25 to Rs 4 per sq ft a month.

According to the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2010, it is mandatory for urban local bodies to regularize hoardings on private property. The act offers civic corporations the right to penalize those who install hoardings illegally. There are 78 sites in the KMC area that are recognized for setting up hoardings, through which the KMC earns Rs 10 lakh as yearly revenue.