KMC’s new ad policy on anvil: No hoardings on dilapidated buildings
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Budget for the financial year 2023-24 entails a new advertisement policy that is soon to be introduced by the civic body to pave way for clean and green city that is free from cluttering of advertisements, and ensure no advertisements/hoardings are allowed on dangerous/dilapidated buildings.
Mayor Firhad Hakim said the KMC is already conducting round-the-clock surveillance to prevent the erection of illegal hoardings both on private premises and on roadside spaces. Constant cleaning, defacement and drive for removing illegal hoardings, banners, kiosks etc. are being made on a regular basis day and night.
A draft KMC (Advertisement Policy) Regulation 2022 to regulate outdoor advertisement in the city was published in 2022 but the Mayor said some changes were proposed by him and the new policy may become effective from the financial year 2023-24. Some of the features of this policy include restriction on displaying advertisements on “no advertisement zone” and “green zone”. It will ensure existing advertisements do not block, conceal or inconvenience the public view of the architectural features of any building.
The policy will ensure that hoarding structures are fenced with appropriate fabrication to maintain the aesthetic value of the hoardings. Where there are no such commercial displays available to the hoardings, they should be covered up by white flex to maintain the aesthetic value of the city.
Importantly, no advertisement/hoarding shall be allowed on such buildings which are declared as dangerous/dilapidated/insecure by the KMC’s building department. The policy emphasises use of eco-friendly biodegradable cloth materials as an alternative to traditionally used PVC flexes in order to reduce pollution.
Moreover, use of renewable sources of energy for illumination has been suggested to decrease carbon footprint. Standard sizes of the hoarding board and minimum distance between two hoardings need to be specified. Also, to increase the aesthetic beauty of the city, it is preferable to construct a circular framing unipole/monopole with standard size display, the policy states.
Initiative has been taken to allow submission of applications relating to permission of all kinds of display in online mode and the specific service will be provided to applicants within a specified time through an user-friendly and transparent system. The proposed system is at the verge of finalisation and will be launched soon.
