BBMP council bans flexes, banners for one year

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) special council meeting on Monday decided to ban all flexes, banners, buntings, illegal advertisement boards, wall posters and other materials used for outdoor advertising in the city for one year.

On August 1, the high court had ordered the removal of all illegal flexes and banners. Ruling party leader M Shivaraju said in the council, “Civic officials have removed more than 21,000 flexes and banners across the city till Sunday, which is about 188 tonnes of material worth Rs 50 lakh.”

“The Palike had to collect a revenue of Rs 339 crore from these advertisements, but we have only collected only Rs 45 crore,” he added.

The high court had directed the BBMP to frame a new advertising policy within the next date of hearing on August 8. But the council meeting decided to appeal to the high court for more time to discuss the policy before finalising it.

Addressing the council members, BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said, “The BBMP will issue notices to those who have put up illegal banners from Monday. If they fail to remove the banners within 15 days, the Palike will file criminal cases against them with a fine of Rs 1 lakh and six-month imprisonment under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981.”

“Till a new policy is drafted, action will be taken under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981. In the past one year, the BBMP has not renewed the licence of any hoarding and has not received any revenue after 2016,” he added.

Opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy welcomed the high court direction.