Indian Express 19.12.2009

MC hits the jackpot as billboards dot Panchkula

As the city turns into a broad advertising canvas with huge billboards donning all roads, it is the Municipal Council that is laughing all the way to the bank.

The MC has marked over 100 sites for commercial purposes across the city, 30 per cent of which have already been utilised. The cash-strapped MC, which was unable to make much money after the state government abolished house tax, is now earning an annual revenue of more than a crore from these 100 plus billboads. This amount will subsequently increase by 10 per cent per year according to the terms and conditions of the five-year contract signed by the advertising firm.

Talking to Newsline, MC Executive Officer O P Sihag said: “We have finalised 110 sites in total for these hoardings which include 50 unipoles, 54 bus queue shelters and six gentries. The job of installing these hoardings has been outsourced to a New Delhi-based firm, Outdoor Communication.”

The MC had invited tenders from advertising firms for the projects, which were shortlisted by an expert committee comprising the deputy commissioner and city magistrate among others last month.

Earlier, it was the Haryana Urban Development Authority that took the lead in setting up billboards in the city. Calling it “the biggest source of revenue”, Sihag expressed happiness for the huge revenues the MC is generating from the project.

Most of these billboards have been placed quite strategically on main roads, near the roundabouts and some of them are right opposite traffic lights. But the MC is in complete denial mode that the advertisements are a source of distraction to commuters.

“Drivers do not get distracted by these hoardings at all. We have been careful with the locations so that they grab the maximum eyeballs and minimum diversion of attention of the drivers,” justified Sihag.

Deccan Chronicle 19.12.2009

City lakes to breathe again

Bengaluru, Dec. 18: There’s reason to hope that the city may be able to save some of its lakes, which have been disappearing under the onslaught of urbanisation. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) plans to revive 11 lakes around the city by the end of March before the monsoon sets in, and one more by July, according to deputy conservator of forest Amarnath M.V.

Consultants have been appointed from Bangalore University to prepare the Detailed Project Report, Mr Amarnath said during an inspection of the work to restore them on Friday.

The BDA team first visited the Jakkur-Sampigehalli lake where 40 per cent of the work has been completed. Care has been taken to ensure that sewage does not enter the lake anymore. Almost 60 per cent of the work has been completed on giving a fresh lease of life to the Ullal lake spread over 24 acres. The lake has been desilted to increase its water holding capacity and will soon get a jogging track and other facilities. Inspecting the Rachenahalli Lake at Amruthahalli, noted environmentalist and chairman of BDA’s lake development advisory committee A.N. Yellappa Reddy directed the consultants to check if apartments around it were treating their sewage before letting it into the lake.

Mr Reddy felt it was time to give the Byramangala, Bellandur, Varthur and Madiwala lakes a heritage tag to protect them from pollution. He urged the government to issue a notification to protect wetlands and empower their guardians to file criminal cases against those polluting them with effluents and debris.

“The notification could be issued under the wetland conservation rules-2008 of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF),” he said.

In his view, around 300 wetlands around the city could be protected similarly. “In the last two decades, over 70 per cent of fresh water bodies have been lost. We need to create a framework to protect those that are left,” he emphasised.