End of contract,roadside ads will have to go: PMC

Contracts with all agencies came to an end on Thursday,with the financial year coming to a close. The civic administration does not intend to extend contracts and will award new contracts within a month.

“The PMC would remove all hoardings… The civic administration has to implement the new policy effective from Friday,” Ramesh Shelar,who heads the PMC anti-encroachment department,said on Thursday.

The civic administration said they have issued notices to remove ads to agencies,some of which had gone to court against the new policy.

The civic administration is in the process of issuing new contracts,said Shelar who added that permission for contract extension has been denied. “The decision on having one agency for the city or one each for the four zones is yet to be taken. The contract would be awarded in a month,” he added.

Congress leader Ulhas Bagul said the administration should strictly implement the new policy and get rid of all illegal hoardings. Pune Hoarding Association secretary Chandrakant Kudal said on Thursday that they had not been conveyed about the action PMC was to take from Friday. “The PMC has to serve a notice before taking action. It will be wrong to bring business to a close suddenly and even the PMC will be at a loss,” he said adding the administration starting the tender process indicates that they were not prepared to implement the new policy,under which hoardings,banners and advertisements would be allowed only at locations decided by the civic body.

The civic administration has divided the PMC jurisdiction into 116 units for open advertisement. It proposes no-hoarding zones in various pockets and restrictions on hoardings and banners within 200 metres of schools,colleges,hospitals and police stations.

Junctions are the most sought-after sites for hoardings. The PMC administration plans to clean up all junctions by removing hoardings and allowing open advertisements at least 25 metres from road junctions so that motorists are not distracted.

A minimum gap of 20 metres between two hoardings has been proposed. No hoarding will be allowed perpendicular to the road. All hoardings will have to be almost parallel to the road and a maximum tilt of 30 degrees to the road will be allowed,so as to not distract vehicle users. Roofs over hoardings will be disallowed.

The policy would also put a check on advertising campaigns on roads and use of public address systems for advertisements. Efforts would be made to encourage hoardings for social issues by charging a smaller fee.

There are 2,222 authorised hoardings in the civic jurisdiction while a large number of illegal hoardings have also come up,Shelar said. Revenue from hoardings is Rs 12 crore annually.