Govt set to regularise illegal hoardings in Bangalore

Bangalore: It's not just the Tamil Nadu state government, which finds hoardings an eye sore. The Bangalore city municipal corporation is all set to regularise illegal hoardings and thereby cut down on the number of cut outs that dot the city.

Banks, flights, cell phones - you name it and it probably has a hoarding up in Bangalore. But come Saturday, hoardings will have to come down. A Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike by-law, which came into force in January, says advertisers must display a BBMP permission board with the hoarding or face the consequences.

BBMP zonal commissioner S N Nagaraj said, “As per the new by-law which came into force in January, removing the advertising board is the only penalty we will impose."

But businesses say the government hasn't given them enough time.

"Enforcing this right now, we are willing to comply but it's a matter of time," The Phone galleria Director Tina Budhrani said.

And it's not just hoardings. Also under the BBMP scanner are apartment complexes with signs warning visitors to keep their vehicles outside.

"We will put No Parking signs, we can pressurize the apartment dwellers to allow visitor's vehicles to park inside the apartments only," Nagaraj added.

The BBMP says allowing visitors' parking will ease congestion on the roads in front of apartments. But residents aren't too happy.

Apartment resident Tarachand Wanavari says, “Its difficult to accommodate our own people I don't know how we'll bring in visitors here."

There are so many of them, that hoardings in Bangalore are now an intrinsic part of the city's skyline.

And though some of these might just be blocking your view of the horizon, you can rest assured that a BBMP permission board will ensure that they stay where they are.

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