UDD nudges CMO for sitting on hoardings file for a year

Citing a Public Accounts Committee’s (PACs) inquiry, the Urban Development department (UDD) has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), enquiring about an important file that proposes to bring back commercial hoardings in Bengaluru.

Pointing out that the file has been held back in the CMO for close to one year, the UDD has asked the CMO to send the file back, after either approving the proposal or returning it as it is.

The file is related to ‘The BBMP Advertisement Rules 2019’, which was awaiting Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s approval. After civil society opposed the government’s move to bring back hoardings, reminding the government about BJP’s own election manifesto, Bommai withdrew the order that was approved by his predecessor B S Yediyurappa.

In a letter dated Nov 22, UDD’s additional chief secretary Rakesh Singh indicated that the file has gone back to the CMO again but there has been no decision on it.

“We had sent the file (number NAE 439 MNU 2019 - Part 2) in December 2021. The file has not come back to the department,” the UDD’s letter, addressed to N Manjunath Prasad, Principal Secretary to chief minister, states.

Stating that the PAC is enquiring about ‘The BBMP Advertisement Rules 2019’, Rakesh Singh, who is also the administrator of BBMP, has requested the CMO to return the file, either by approving or rejecting the proposal.

After the BBMP introduced a ban on commercial hoardings, the pro-advertisement lobby has been making efforts to bring back hoardings by pressuring the government to draw up a policy framework.

Currently, advertisement rights are issued only under the public private partnership.

A member of the PAC said the committee did not ask for information related to ‘The BBMP Advertisement Rules 2019’. “We had a discussion on commercial hoardings with UDD officers but that was related to past agreements. We wanted to study the past tenders as there were complaints of disproportionate benefits to the concessionaire,” a member said.

When DH contacted Rakesh Singh said, “The BBMP had drafted the proposal to bring back commercial hoardings. The government decided not to allow it. There was, however, an internal discussion to re-visit the proposal.”