Attempting to tighten the noose around the display-hoardings’ lobby ahead of Bangalore’s civic polls, the BJP government on Monday said no new licences will be issued to advertising agencies for erecting hoardings in the city.
“These hoardings are spoiling the city’s skyline and are an environmental hazard. We have decided not to allow new display boards,” said chief minister B S Yeddyurappa after presiding over a meeting of officials from the Greater Bangalore City Corporation (GBCC).
The move, however, has not enthused the hoardings lobby, which is keen on capitalising on Bangalore’s image as a global city. An advertising agent told Business Standard: “The talk about giving an aesthetic look to the city is nothing but empty rhetoric. This has been mooted to squeeze money out of us.”
But GBCC officials spiked the allegation and contended: “The move will help us regulate the advertisement business in Bangalore. A majority of the hoardings in the city have been installed without obtaining permission.” According to them, for every legal hoarding that dots Bangalore’s skyline, at least three are illegal.
Explaining the modus operandi of agencies that own hoardings, GBCC officials said: “The agency obtains permission from GBCC to put up a single hoarding, but puts up four or five hoarding at different locations by either hoodwinking the officials or by colluding with them.” At present, GBCC’s records say 2,889 authorised hoardings are present in the city.
While ordering a crackdown on illegal hoardings, Yeddyurappa said: “We will not cancel the licences issued to the 2,889 hoardings. Instead, we will wait for the licence period to expire.”
In all 363 illegal hoardings have been pulled down till August 8, he added. About posters and banners put up by political parties, Yeddyurappa said: “Parties will be allowed to put up posters at their venue a day ahead of the meeting and these are supposed to be removed immediately after the meeting.”
On the possible reduction in revenue flow from advertisements to the GBCC, Yeddyurappa said: “That is a wrong notion. The GBCC’s revenue have begun to increase after steps were taken to streamline advertisement business.”
While revenue from advertisements was Rs 6 crore in 2006-07, it increased to Rs 98 crore in 2007-08 following the entry of big advertisers like the Reliance Group and Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL).
Confident of clocking revenues of Rs 100 crore this year, Yeddyurappa said the government will open the 1,400 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus stops and 53 skywalks to advertisers. The government will encourage installation of liquid crystal display (LCD) hoardings in the city.
