HYDERABAD: It has been two years since the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department banned outdoor advertisements above the height of 15 ft. However, the orders are yet to be completely implemented as new billboards and hoardings are erected across metro rail stations, bridges and flyovers.
As per GO No. 68 (issued in April 2020), permissions will be granted only for hoardings that are below 15 ft across GHMC limits and no rooftop billboards will be allowed. But, in total violation of this order, advertisements for movies, OTT platforms and ad space in the form of billboards are found hanging from the metro rail stations and sides of flyovers.
There is this advertisement board hanging from Irrum Manzil metro station, which is above 15 ft. In the same area near the RTA office, two more hoardings are found hanging from the side of the metro rail bridge. Other areas where such billboards are found include Khairatabad, Punjagutta, Narayanguda, Koti, etc.
GO 68 clearly says that if the height of the unauthorised advertisement element exceeds 15 ft from the ground, the enforcement vigilance and disaster management (EV&DM) wing of GHMC will impose a fine of ₹1 lakh per day. “These ads are supposed to be charged several lakhs of rupees. Years ago, there were instances where people have died when such huge unipoles and billboards fell on people resulting in the deaths and injuries to people, especially during monsoon season,” a civic activist said.
GHMC officials, however, said several hoardings and billboards have been removed since the guidelines came into effect. “Some of the problems with such hoardings are that they also violate the rule of putting up the name of the advertising agency along with PPIN number. There are many unknown hoardings cropping up as well. We have removed them in the past and traced some of them, but it is a difficult task,” a senior EV&DM official said.
Normally, the GHMC bans big hoardings across the city for a period of 60 days during the monsoon season starting from June 1.
