On May 23, City Express had reported about the hoarding mess that the
city witnessed following the election results. Then, Bruhat Bangalore
Mahangara Palike (BBMP) had given a deadline to all political parties to
remove the unauthorised hoardings within 24 hours.

Venkateshappa,
Joint Commissioner of east zone had said that ‘a directive has been
issued on May 21 and it will last for 24 hours. Those failing to abide
by it will face serious action.’

But, as always, the directive was
given a cold shoulder. Almost about 30,000-40,000 cases came to light,
wherein the hoardings or its structures held fort.

Now, to deal
with the issue of unauthorised political hoardings and posters,  D
Kiran, Additional Commissioner (Finance) and incharge of advertising in
BBMP has presented a proposal to the BBMP commissioner to invite tenders
for hiring people to remove the structures supporting the posters and
hoardings in the city.

Commenting on the recurrence of these
hoardings, flexes, buntings, etc., Kiran said, “Once the tender is
passed, we will have a proper enforcement team and this will bring down
the issue to a large extent. The team will be able to give us a proper
report on the present situations in different parts of the city.
Currently, we just remove the posters or the hoardings but the
structure, on which it is supported, remains. As a result, the very next
day another poster or hoarding comes up on it.”

Kiran feels the
major problem lies in the laws that are in place. He said, “There is a
need to amend the advertising laws. The laws are not adequate and are
weak to tackle the issue. Though, we have booked all the cases of
unauthorised political hoardings, as of now, that is all we can do as
under the present act, we can book only civil cases and it is supported
by some form of penalty. Unlike income tax, where once you are deemed a
defaulter, the officials have full authority to take stringent action.”