HP bans defacing roadside structures

Chided by the Supreme Court for neglecting ecology, the Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday banned defacing of roadside structures and issued fresh directions for display of advertisement boards and hoardings.

The government has decided not to allow defacing of roadside structures like retaining walls, breast walls, parapets, culverts, railings, roadside trees/plantations, milestones, rocks/boulders etc. Neither display of advertisements nor paintings would be allowed on these structures, it said. Any other mode adopted to display advertisements would also not be allowed.

According to fresh instructions, no advertisement boards will be allowed to be erected/displayed on acquired as well as controlled width of all the roads in the state. The state government has planned to remove all such existing advertisements and the PWD and the police have been entrusted with this responsibility.