1,600 illegal hoardings remain, BBMP tells HC

The BBMP counsel on Monday submitted before the high court that there are 1,600 illegal hoardings and structures remaining in the city. The owners of these hoardings have not responded to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) notification seeking documents to show that they have permission to instal these hoardings.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking directions to remove illegal flexes and hoardings in the city.

The BBMP counsel further submitted that apart from the 107 illegal hoardings that were voluntarily removed by the owners before the last hearing, an additional 212 hoardings have been voluntarily removed so far.

Following this, the counsel for advertising agencies contended that the one-year ban imposed by the BBMP on advertisement hoardings was affecting their revenues which usually peak during festivals.

In response to this, the court orally observed that installation of hoardings is not the only available media for advertising. Furthermore, the fact that Bengaluru is looking clean without the hoardings and flexes is a festival in itself.

Furthermore, in an additional context, the court also sought to know what action the BBMP was taking to clean the city through its waste collection activities. To this, the BBMP submitted that door-to-door waste collection is being carried out on an everyday basis.

The court further orally observed that every day should be a cleaning day for the city. Why should we have a dedicated day for cleaning like Swachchata Abhiyaan, the court orally stated.

The court also orally observed that it is BBMP's first responsibility to restore the city back to its original glory by ensuring a flex-free Bengaluru without permission or any order of the court.

The BBMP had earlier claimed that over 22,000 flexes and banners were removed across the city as part of its drive to make the city flex-free following the intervention of the high court. The court adjourned the hearing of the case to October 1.