The Times of India             04.11.2013

Pimpri Chinchwad Muncipal Corporation to take on illegal hoardings

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Muncipal Corporation (PCMC) is planning a hoardings policy to prevent people from putting up unauthorized hoardings across the city. The corporation is also studying the legal possibilities of considering an unauthorized hoarding as an unauthorized construction, so that people responsible face imprisonment of up to three years.

Municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi said the signages department has been directed to prepare the policy and take the approval of the civic general body (GB).

"If a permanent or temporary construction is done without seeking prior permission, then it is considered as an illegal construction. If the same can be applicable for unauthorized hoardings, then people putting up such hoardings can face imprisonment of up to three years. This will act as a deterrent against the practice," he said.

Pardeshi said unauthorized hoardings put up in the city often create problem for the traffic as well as mar the beauty of the city. "We have found that there are as many as 900 unauthorized hoardings in the city. The civic body will be sending notices under the Defacement of Properties Act to people who have put up such hoardings. They will be asked to remove the hoardings within a month or else the civic body will take them down forcibly, for which expenses will be borne by the owners. Complaints will also be lodged against people not taking the notice seriously," he said.

Pardeshi said people do not check the structural stability of a building before they allow a hoarding to be put up. "There is a possibility that buildings, which are structurally weak, may further weaken if a large hoarding is placed on it and they may collapse during natural disasters," he said.

The PCMC will conduct a survey and identify locations where the hoardings can be put up for a short duration.

"There is a need to frame a policy for hoardings. Currently, the four zonal offices of the civic body are dealing with the unauthorized hoardings. Health inspectors have also been empowered to take action against such hoardings,'' Pardeshi said.