The Times of India 14.03.2013
Drive against unauthorised hoardings to begin today
PUNE: The civic administration on Wednesday directed all ward offices to carry out a drive against illegal hoardings in the city from Thursday following a Bombay high court order towards this direction.
The court set a 24-hour deadline for the civic administration to remove the illegal hoardings in the city and asked the PMC to submit an action-taken report to it with photographs on March 15 (Friday).
Sources in the civic body said the drive would begin at 8 am in various parts of the city. The PMC has planned to depute a 20-member team comprising officers, police personnel, nuisance detection squad members and helpers. The anti-encroachment department will constitute 15 such squads so that each ward office has a team.
"A report, along with photographs of hoardings before and after the removal (of the hoardings), should be submitted to the anti-encroachment department by 7 pm," said Ramesh Shelar, deputy commissioner of the PMC's anti encroachment department. He added that the administration has already started removing illegal hoardings across the city and approximately 600 unauthorized hoardings have been taken off.
"The PMC is taking action against illegal hoardings in the city on a daily basis. The administration will follow the high court's directives. All the reports will be submitted to the court," PMC commissioner Mahesh Pathak said.
A bunch of public interest litigations pertaining to illegal hoarding in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Mira Bhayander and Satara came up for hearing before the high court bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and A P Bhangale. While hearing the matter, the judges orally set the deadline for taking action against the illegal hoardings.
"We argued that the PMC has taken strict actions in the recent past about illegal hoardings. In view of proliferation of such hoardings in Mumbai and Thane, the bench orally directed officials of all the corporations and municipal councils present in the court to remove the illegal hoardings within 24 hours and latest by Thursday evening and submit an action-taken report on March 15," advocate Abhijit Kulkarni, who represented the PMC in the court, told TOI from Mumbai.
"It also directed the civic officials to take photographs of such hoardings and issue notices to those whose photographs have appeared on the hoardings," he added.
Balasaheb Ganjwe, the president of Pune Outdoor Hoardings Association, said, "There are almost 1,800 authorized hoardings in the city and almost an equal number of illegal ones." He, however, claimed that the civic administration has not acted swiftly in removing the illegal hoardings.
In many cases, the civic staff removed the flex boards instead of hoardings put up across the city, he said. He added that though the association had given details of illegal hoardings to the PMC, there has been no satisfactory response from it.
The court set a 24-hour deadline for the civic administration to remove the illegal hoardings in the city and asked the PMC to submit an action-taken report to it with photographs on March 15 (Friday).
Sources in the civic body said the drive would begin at 8 am in various parts of the city. The PMC has planned to depute a 20-member team comprising officers, police personnel, nuisance detection squad members and helpers. The anti-encroachment department will constitute 15 such squads so that each ward office has a team.
"A report, along with photographs of hoardings before and after the removal (of the hoardings), should be submitted to the anti-encroachment department by 7 pm," said Ramesh Shelar, deputy commissioner of the PMC's anti encroachment department. He added that the administration has already started removing illegal hoardings across the city and approximately 600 unauthorized hoardings have been taken off.
"The PMC is taking action against illegal hoardings in the city on a daily basis. The administration will follow the high court's directives. All the reports will be submitted to the court," PMC commissioner Mahesh Pathak said.
A bunch of public interest litigations pertaining to illegal hoarding in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Mira Bhayander and Satara came up for hearing before the high court bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and A P Bhangale. While hearing the matter, the judges orally set the deadline for taking action against the illegal hoardings.
"We argued that the PMC has taken strict actions in the recent past about illegal hoardings. In view of proliferation of such hoardings in Mumbai and Thane, the bench orally directed officials of all the corporations and municipal councils present in the court to remove the illegal hoardings within 24 hours and latest by Thursday evening and submit an action-taken report on March 15," advocate Abhijit Kulkarni, who represented the PMC in the court, told TOI from Mumbai.
"It also directed the civic officials to take photographs of such hoardings and issue notices to those whose photographs have appeared on the hoardings," he added.
Balasaheb Ganjwe, the president of Pune Outdoor Hoardings Association, said, "There are almost 1,800 authorized hoardings in the city and almost an equal number of illegal ones." He, however, claimed that the civic administration has not acted swiftly in removing the illegal hoardings.
In many cases, the civic staff removed the flex boards instead of hoardings put up across the city, he said. He added that though the association had given details of illegal hoardings to the PMC, there has been no satisfactory response from it.
