Bengaluru civic body bans hoardings, flexi billboards

Bengaluru : The Bengaluru civic body on Monday set a 15-day deadline to remove all illegal hoardings, flexi billboards and posters put up across the city in a bid to beautify the garden city.

"The banners and buntings not only obstruct free traffic movement but are also causing damage to the aesthetic beauty of the city, resulting in environmental hazards," the city's civic body Commissioner N. Manjunatha Prasad said in a notification.

The Karnataka High Court on August 1 pulled up the civic authority and the city police chief for inaction against the offenders who have put up thousands of illegal billboards of political leaders, brands, products and advertisements, disfiguring the city and making even residential localities ugly.

"Thousands of the advertisements, banners and posters in the city are being put up without any authorisation. The civic authority has hence banned all illegal advertisements and billboards in the city," a civic official told IANS here.

Failing to remove the hoardings within the 15-day deadline will result in fine or jail under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1986, the official added.

After the High Court directive to remove the hoardings, the civic body authorities have removed about 20,000 banners, flexi billboards and buntings in Bengaluru over the past few days.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy also asked the leaders and party cadres of various political outfits to co-operate with the civic body.

"I request all leaders, party workers, political parties and organisations to co-operate with the BBMP (civic authority Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) and the government in keeping Bengaluru free of flex banners and illegal hoardings. Let us all get together to keep our city clean and beautiful," he tweeted.

The civic body has issued the ban orders after it found that several new hoardings were being put up despite their officials removing them from time to time.