Punjab's local bodies dept readies draft advt policy

The draft of a comprehensive and uniform Punjab Municipal Outdoor Advertisement Policy and By- Laws 2018 has been readied by the local bodies department.
The policy has been prepared with a view to accord a uniform look to all the cities/towns of Punjab as well as making the urban local bodies self-sufficient from economic point of view, an official release said here today.
The department has invited suggestions from the public to make the draft policy more effective.
The department would incorporate the feedback/suggestions received till January 31 and finalise the comprehensive and effective advertisement policy which would be implemented from the month of March this year.

Local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said the main aim of framing the advertisement policy is to increase the income of the urban local bodies and penalise the violators through stringent laws.
Apart from this, it is aimed to make a uniform policy for giving a beautified look to the cities and accord uniformity to all the haphazard outdoor advertisements acting as eyesore thus damaging the look of cities/urban centres, he said.

Stating that the need to frame a new policy arose from the ineffectiveness of the earlier advertisement policy which was sans any provision to levy any punishment or penalty on the violators, Sidhu added that the new policy would be broadly based on enacting the laws and implementing them in letter and spirit.

Listing the salient features of the draft of new advertisement policy, the minister said that nobody would be allowed to display advertisements on the rooftops.
The shopkeepers would only be allowed to display a single advertisement per floor on their shops and that too would be of a fixed size. The shopkeepers would be given two months timeframe for taking down the earlier boards and display new ones.
"Besides this, the advertisements to be displayed on the spaces in the urban centres would also be of same size. In the earlier Municipal Act, there was provision to remove any illegal advertisement or board but sans any imposition of penalties. So, the new draft would also include amending the Municipal Act thereby levying hefty penalties as well as entailing imprisonment," he said.

As per the draft policy, the government officials would submit their compliance report regarding implementation of the policy in their respective areas on weekly basis to the concerned commissioner/executive officer who would in turn submit the report of their city/town every month to the director, local government.
In case of any financial loss to the state exchequer due to the negligence of any government officer then the amount would be made good from the salary of the official concerned.
Sidhu said the draft also entails forming of flying squads to ensure compliance with the provisions of the policy which would conduct random checks to make sure that the advertisement boards have been displayed as per the policy.

The police barricades would also display the advertisements of the licensed and approved company regarding which the action taken report would be sent by the respective police commissioners/SSPs to the director local government every month.
The minister said every bit of information concerning the advertisements would be uploaded on the website of the department as well as displayed on the notice boards of the departmental offices.
The information would contain the number of advertisements, type, size, name of the advertising agency with contact number and the duration of advertisement displayed. The same information would also need to be compulsorily given on the advertisement hoarding.

The minister also said that any state resident can complain with regard to any violator of the advertisement policy on the helpline number and website of the department.
The draft also carries the proposal that no blacklisted company or the one banned by any of the state governments can participate in the bid to display advertisements.
Apart from this, the concerned department whose advertisement in city/town would be displayed on government, co-operative, public sector undertaking or board or corporation and would be facing the city would have to pay the 50 percent revenue to the department.