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Blanket ban on billboards lifted in Bangalore
26th August 08, Bangalore : In a major relief for the Outdoor Advertising Industry, the Karnataka Government has revised its earlier stand banning billboards by partially lifting the blanket ban on hoardings in Bangalore. The government has now restricted the ban to 19 roads in zones A and B in the city (See table below).
Bowing to pleas from the outdoor industry, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has said that the blanket ban would go. He has instructed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to issue permits to put up advertisements on 71 roads falling under zone C and 72 roads in zone D. The BBMP would evolve a comprehensive policy to regulate advertisements and earmark places for them.
The CM admitted that he was convinced that a blanket ban would render over 20,000 people in the outdoor industry jobless. But at the same time, the CM has asked the BBMP not to issue fresh permits for putting up advertisement hoardings on the 19 roads or renew existing permits. But the existing hoardings will be allowed on those roads till the existing permits expire.
The Chief Minister, who chaired a meeting attended by BBMP Commissioner S. Subramanya and Urban Development Department officials on Monday, said as on August 8, there were 2,789 authorised hoardings, 363 unauthorised hoardings and 142 hoardings that were under litigation. He warned that action would be taken against those firms who installed more hoardings than they had been permitted to.
Giving out figures, he said advertisement hoardings fetched Rs. 6 crore in revenue for the BBMP in 2006-07 and Rs. 91 crore in 2007-08. The CM expressed confidence that the revenue would cross Rs. 100 crore in the current fiscal year.
The Government has decided to build 1,400 bus shelters, 53 skywalks and a large number of toilets in Bangalore. Advertisements would be allowed at the bus-stops and along the skywalks, Yeddyurappa said.
The CM said the premises of the Karnataka High Court, the Vidhana Soudha, the Vikasa Soudha, the Legislators’ Home and the Karnataka Public Service Commission have been declared advertisement-free zones.
On the installation of hoardings by political parties and their leaders, he said parties would be allowed to put up hoardings only on two days: a day before the programme and on the programme day. There would be a strict entry and exit time for such hoardings, he said.
The BMMP had been directed to remove all unauthorised hoardings in Bangalore. But several firms, which had put up illegal hoardings, had gone to the court and brought stay orders. “Nobody follows the BBMP’s bylaws and guidelines,” the Chief Minister said.
The CM clarified that the new directions would be applicable only in all areas coming under the BBMP and not in other cities in the State.
The roads where advertisement has been banned are:
| Zone A |
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Zone B |
| Ten roads: Kumara Krupa Road; Windsor Manor junction to Shivananda Circle; Raj Bhavan Road; High Grounds to Minsk Square; Ambedkar Veedhi; K.R. Circle to Infantry Road junction; Post Office Road; K.R. Circle to SBM (K.G. Road); Chalukya Circle; Maharani’s College Road; K.R. Circle; environs of Cubbon Park and Lalbagh; Nrupathunga Road; K.R. Circle to Police Corner junction; Palace Road; and SBM Circle to Chalukya Circle. |
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Nine roads: Sheshadri Road; Racecourse Road junction to K.R. Circle; Kamaraj Road; M.G. Road to Dickenson Road junction; Queen’s Circle to M.G. Road junction; Minsk Square to Dickenson Road junction; M.G. Road; Bridage Road; M.G. Road to Residency Road junction; R.V. Road; Commercial Street; Residency Road to Vellara junction. |
The Chief Minister said some of the roads in zones C and D would be brought under zones A and B soon.
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