Telegraphidia | Apr 15, 2018 00:00 IST.
Bhubaneswar: The civic body would bring a stringent regulation for outdoor advertisements with the housing and urban development department giving it a go ahead to the new Bhubaneswar Advertisement Regulations, 2017, here.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has drafted the new regulations after amending the previously followed Bhubaneswar Advertisement Regulations, 2015, and submits it to the government for approval. “Our officials have gone through the draft regulation and suggested some changes,” said a department official.
The department has directed the civic body to depute an official for scrutiny of the draft regulations, which will be done in consultation with the law department. “It is almost final, but there are certain procedures need to be followed before enforcing the new regulations,” he said.
Civic body sources said they had introduced some strict measures in the new regulations, especially for installation of the rooftop hoardings and flex banners in public places. “We have introduced a component in the regulations where we will be able to have a control on irregular placement of advertisements,” said a civic body official.
He said certain provisions were made in the new regulations where the enforcement activities would be strengthened.
“It is important to have a firm control on placement of the advertisements in public places as well as conducting regular enforcement drives to check on the violations,” said the official.
At present, hoardings and flex banners continue to destroy the beauty of city’s skylines in absence of regular enforcement drives. Besides, there are no control on placement of the political hoardings and banners, especially during an event.
The situation is worse at a few other places where the banners are distracting commuters posing road safety risk.
“There has to be a strict regulation for placement of the hoardings and banners, especially the larger ones. On roads, it often distracts us, making commuting a risky affair at certain places. There are rules to remove such distracting banners from the roads, but authorities are doing nothing,” said Saheed Nagar resident Mrunmayi Mishra.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena admitted the problems faced by the people because of irregular placement of hoardings and banners. “In the new regulations, we will make efforts not only to keep the city beautiful but also to save the commuters,” said Jena.
Officials said once the modalities were completed, the new advertisement regulations would come into force by June.
“We will make the amendments suggested by the law and other line departments. Our officials are already working on it. We have set a target to enforce the new rules by June,” he said.
