Banners beyond the ban

Flex banners are back again, and with the local election season just around the corner, the trend could quickly escalate in the city. As political parties flex their muscles, the spotlight has returned to the plastic ban, advertisement policy, hoardings and those ugly scaffoldings that dot the city’s junctions.

Urban aesthetics got a hyper-boost with a ban on all hoardings in the city three years ago. The mighty advertisement mafia was not impressed by this pushback. They ensured that the scaffoldings, the frames that held the billboards, will not be taken out. The ugly structures are a reminder that the powerful mafia are getting ready to strike back.

Political tug-of-war

But the immediate trigger for escalation is political. The Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s move to pull down the Congress hoardings has been dubbed as ‘politically motivated.’ The party has accused the Palike of double standards, alleging that it allowed billboards put up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In this edgy tug-of-war, the city’s image has taken another beating. The plastic ban has faced a massive implementation challenge for years. The gains, however little, could see a reversal. Many fear that with the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections weeks away from a formal announcement, flex boards could flood the city’s streetscapes.

The Palike cites the BBMP Act, 2020 and Section 3 of the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981 to remind that display of flex boards, flags, banners, posters and buntings is a punishable offence.

Bypassing rules

But the well-entrenched nexus of bureaucrats, politicians and commercial interests have found ways to bypass the rules, notes an urban architect, preferring anonymity. “The reluctance to take out the scaffoldings seems to be this lobby’s work. The skywalks, most of which are unused, and unnecessary bus stops are ways to create more hoarding spaces by proxy,” he points out.

Urban mobility experts have repeatedly drawn attention to the skywalks, most of which are located in places with maximum visibility for the advertisements displayed on them. Pedestrian interests are rarely considered. “Forcing people to climb up and down to ease motorist movement is itself a bad idea. I don’t understand why you need skywalks at signalled junctions.”

To increase advertising space, another method adopted is to put up multiple bus stands at the same bus stop, a common sight in the city’s Central Business District (CBD) areas.

Remove scaffolding

The ban on hoardings had made sense from an urban aesthetic perspective. “The billboards blocked the city’s landscape, greenery and architecture at many places. The ban should stay, and all the scaffoldings should be removed once and for all.”

But the nexus apparently poses a formidable challenge. The State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had raided more than two dozen Palike offices, exposing a nexus that involved both insiders and private parties. Tax evasion reportedly led to losses of about Rs 230 crore to the State exchequer.

The blatant violation of the existing ban has left many wondering who is the regulatory authority. “There cannot be a rollback of the rules to bring back flex boards. If the elected representatives themselves are breaking the law, who will bell the cat?” asks Sandya Narayanan from the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT).

Legal intervention

The flex menace had subsided after the High Court pulled up the government, leading to a ban, recalls Rekha Chari, an active member of the Malleswaram ward 65 committees. “Lot of flex boards are now cropping up across the city. The Court may have to intervene again,” she says.

Rekha has been part of campaigns to get the flex boards removed from her ward. “The Palike does send tractors to take out the boards, but they come up again. Political parties, fans associations of film stars are all putting up such flex boards. The Palike staffers say they work under a lot of pressure,” she elaborates.

If Chennai can completely ban such hoardings and Delhi can follow suit, why cannot Bengaluru do it, wonders the urban architect. “The flex industry should be highly regulated. Barring private functions, the banners should not be allowed at all. Some billboards could be allowed in designated areas such as airport approaches and outside the BBMP area, but not in other places.”

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