KMC to make QR code mandatory on advertisement hoardings in city

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is all set to come up with a coding system for effective tracking of advertisement hoardings and putting a leash on the illegal ones mushrooming indiscriminately.

“KMC Commissioner Binod Kumar will come up with a notification making QR code mandatory for advertisement hoardings or banners in the city. As soon as a person scans the QR code all details related to the same like its tender, work order and agency that has installed it will be available. So any person will be able to know whether the concerned hoarding is legal or illegal,” Mayor Firhad Hakim said.

The Mayor said that the idea was under active consideration by the KMC for quite a long time, but this time the civic body has pulled up its socks.

”I am hopeful that with the introduction of QR codes, the mushrooming of illegal hoardings here and there in the city will be gradually curbed,” he added.

Hakim said that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has formed a committee that will come up with a hoarding policy to curb illegal advertisements.

He expressed his optimism about putting the hoarding policy in place from the next financial year.

It is mandatory to take the nod of KMC for installing any advertisement hoardings in the city, but due to some legal complexities in the rules, several companies would illegally put up advertisements depriving Kolkata Municipal Corporation of its revenue share.

The Advertisement department which had started a crackdown on illegal hoardings or flexes in the city from the middle of 2021 had initially targeted those agencies whose due had crossed the Rs 5 lakh mark. Many advertisement hoardings have been cut down for non-payment or similar irregularities.