Illegal posters mock BBMP right on its doorstep

Elected reps violators; Palike vows to 'mercilessly' remove them

Thousands of illegal posters, banners and flex boards defacing the City’s beauty lay bare the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) claims that it has introduced a transparent and strong advertisement policy that checks its revenue leakage.

Most of the violators are none but the corporators who have put up their posters and flex boards on government walls, electricity polls, transformers, Namma Metro pillars, bus stands, parks, playgrounds and, lo and behold, near the BBMP head office! The Palike has just no control over the posters put up by the corporators, MLAs, MPs and their supporters.

Taking inspiration from the elected representatives, many commercial establishments, too, have illegally pasted their advertisements on trees, electricity poles, pavements and government buildings. There is hardly any corner which is unaffected by the advertisement menace.

Take for example JC Road, which is less than a kilometre from the BBMP’s head office. Even today, the posters of Chickpet MLA R V Devaraj dot its every junction. The zonal commissioner did nothing to remove them, let alone impose penalty on the violators by issuing notices.

Another glaring example is Banashankari Circle. The major violator is nobody but the local corporator S Ansar Pasha. Many posters with his life-size images have been put up in the ward to commemorate Kannada Nityotsava.

Rajajinagar, Jayanagar, BTM Layout, Koramangala, MG Road, Ulsoor, Marathahalli, Kengeri, Vijayanagar, no locality is safe from the menace.

In response, BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik said the change had begun and Bengaluru would shortly be ridden of illegal posters, banners and hoardings.

“It’s wrong to say that some internal report has prompted us to act. The fact is that we were at it. In the coming days, you may witness the BBMP mercilessly removing all such advertisements,” he said.

He also said joint commissioners at the zonal level had been given “strict instructions” to remove all illegal display boards and file cases against the violators. As for advertisements placed inside police station compounds, he said the matter had been conveyed to the minister concerned and would be addressed shortly.

But a BBMP official, requesting anonymity, quipped, “You don’t have to go elsewhere to see illegal posters and hoardings. These are inside the BBMP head office itself. A large hoarding of a confectionery has been placed on the premises of the police station in front of our head office and there is no one to ask the police why did they allow their space to be used for commercial purpose.”