Unauthorised installation of advertisement boards, banners and hoardings will be removed by local body authorities as the Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) has issued an order directing all local bodies to pull out illegal advertisements and campaign materials within seven days in pursuance of a High Court order on January 15.
The order on January 21 directs local bodies to introduce restrictions on advertisement boards, banners, hoardings and flags and remove all illegal ones. Installations of such materials by various agencies, organisations, establishments and political parties without the permission of the local bodies are found to be causing accidents. Secretaries of the local bodies have been instructed to comply with the court order strictly and remove the unauthorised installations.
The nodal officers in the Panchayat Directorate and Urban Affairs Directorate, entrusted to supervise the removal of the unauthorised boards, have been asked to review the progress of the work on a daily basis and report to the government in 10 days. Stringent action would be taken if there was laxity on the part of the secretary of the local body in implementing the order, it said.
The order also stated that following an earlier order last year, 1,29,972 unauthorised boards were removed from panchayats and a fine of ₹23,302 levied. The number of illegal boards removed from municipal and Corporation areas is 1,15,670 and the fine collected is ₹7,36,705.
Though there has been substantial progress in the removal of unauthorised billboards and banners since the High Court order, unauthorised installations of such materials had increased considerably of late, it said.