The advertisement bye-laws that govern outdoor advertisement in the city date back to 2006 and a new ad policy to tackle the menace of flex and banners has been in the pipeline for over four years now. The new draft policy ropes in digital display boards as an alternative to flex and banners.
Hours after the high court pulled up the BBMP over the issue, work on the policy picked up pace. Multiple meetings have been scheduled this week.
Civic Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told The Hindu that the draft policy will be tabled before the BBMP council on August 7.
Sources said that the draft policy was based on the Delhi Advertisement Policy that was approved by the Supreme Court in 2017.
“Advertising companies need to put up digital display boards at spots approved by the BBMP, paying us a ground rent. They can charge advertisers a fee for the display. This will prevent plastic flex and banners,” said a senior official working on the draft.
Once digital boards are introduced, there will be a complete ban on flex and banners. The new draft policy carries severe punitive measures, including imprisonment, the official said.
Senior councillor M.K. Gunashekhar, who spearheaded drafting of the new policy in 2016-17, equated the proliferation of flex and banners with garbage blackspots. “Every time you remove a flex/banner, it makes a comeback in a week at the same spot. Digital display boards,” he said, “are the best alternative.”
BBMP lax on enforcement?
The civic body on Wednesday submitted to the high court that it had removed 94,000-odd illegal flex and banners, and booked 456 FIRs in the last four years. The BBMP also submitted that the city had 2,964 illegal hoardings, of which they had removed 1,201 in the same four-year-period.
“Though the numbers seem to be high, it only shows lax enforcement, as it is over so many years,” a senior councillor said. However, there is no benchmark to compare this figure, as the BBMP never maintained data on the total number of illegal flex and banners in the city.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad assured the HC that there would be better enforcement and that he would publicise penal norms for illegal advertisements, which includes imprisonment. He will also write to prominent office-bearers of all political parties explaining the law and warning of criminal action in case of illegal advertisements, he said.