District Collector T.N. Hariharan has directed the civic body to remove all illegal hoardings and advertisement boards in the city. In its letter of September 27, 2018 he has also furnished a list of authorised hoardings for the civic body to act on the rest.
Sources familiar with the issue, said that citing a Madras High Court order of October 30, 2017 and several government orders from the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, the Collector had told the civic body that the Government had issued clear instructions stating that hoardings should not be allowed on National and State highways, near junctions and renewal of permission for those erected should not be given.
Based on the government orders, the district administration had sent a letter to the Corporation on May 14, 2018 asking it to remove such illegal hoardings but to date the Corporation was yet to act on it. And, the administration did not receive any reply from the civic body, either.
The Collector then listed permissions he had given to advertisement agencies/companies to erect the hoardings and the places where the erection was allowed.
He had also listed the agencies whose permission period had expired.
He had further said that it had come to his attention that there were several illegal hoardings across the city and therefore the Corporation should remove those at once and submit a report with visual evidence for having removed those.
And, he added that the Corporation should submit such reports on the second and 17th of every month.
Asked about the Collector’s letter, the Corporation officials said they were looking into it.
Meanwhile, Coimbatore Consumer Cause, a consumer organisation, said that it would soon issue notice to all government organisations concerned, including the Corporation, for failing to act on the Collector’s letter and abide by court ruling and government orders.