The Chief Minister himself might have declared a war on the advertisement hoardings disfiguring Bangalore's skyline and unveiled a slew of measures to rein them in. But, the authorities seem to have missed the clandestine advertising resorted to by the small boards that hang on to the gates of residential buildings on busy roads and lanes across the City.

Metrolife went around the City doing a reality-check on these small-sized, ugly advertisement boards.  NIIT, ICICI, APEX Real Estates.... the advertisers were of all sizes. Yet the trick was the same: Ostensibly the boards announced ‘no parking’. But bigger than the message was the medium:The company or the product in the guise of the board's sponsor.

That each gate paraded three-four boards in some cases, was a pointer to the scale of the problem. The BBMP seems to have no clue on how to control this trend.

The owners of the houses, however, were puzzled. Some did not seem to mind them as they have a ‘no parking’ tag to it. But some seemed furious that the eyesores sprang up overnight on their gates. Some clever residents had ripped off the sponsor and let only the ‘no parking’ writing stay.

"We have tried taking them off but they appear again. We don't know who is putting them up. The no parking tag to it just keeps vehicles from parking in front of our gate and that's the only consolation," said Shona D'Sa, a resident of Rest House Road.

Abhishek Agharwal in Cox Town jokingly said that he wished these advertisers would pay him a royalty for putting up these boards. The residents don't stand to gain as they are not paid for the boards. Nor is the BBMP in picture even in a regulatory role.

The BBMP sources said it is illegal to hang these boards on private gates. Both the advertisers and the owners could be taken to court.  "Ideally, we must register a police complaint against all these house owners, who indirectly are party to this because they allow such boards to hang on their gates," the source felt.
The BBMP said it does not have enough manpower to regulate this illegal advertising. "We have no time and resources to climb in an out of police stations, courts and get into headaches," the sources said and added: "These products get so much visibility at no cost at all. It is obvious that the ad agencies make a huge money in all this as the commissions are huge."

While the BBMP has admitted that there is no ready-made provision in law to weed out these illegal boards, the residents are taking it easy only because the ‘no parking’ message on these boards keeps other vehicles off.