Illegal hoardings, ads to invite Rs 50,000 penalty

BATHINDA: Illegal advertisements installed in the city are going to land people in trouble. A penalty up to Rs 50,000 can be imposed, which will not be paid at the office of the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB), but at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court.

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 15

Illegal advertisements installed in the city are going to land people in trouble.

A penalty up to Rs 50,000 can be imposed, which will not be paid at the office of the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB), but at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court.

The MCB has started preparations for implementing the new advertisement policy-2018 under which Municipal Commissioner Rishi Pal Singh has directed the advertisement nodal officer and tehbazari wing superintendent to prepare a list of illegal advertisements installed in the city and has also issued directions to take action in this regard.

If a person doesn’t remove it then their challan should be sent to the court.

The MCB has issued notices to people asking them to remove illegal advertisements, wall paintings and posters within seven days from their buildings.

The state government’s new outdoor advertisement policy is all set to economically help the debt-ridden Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB)in the coming days as corporations in the state have been given powers to take strict action against the people and companies that have installed illegal advertisements, resulting in economic loss to the civic bodies.

At present, a large number of illegal hoardings have been installed on almost all roads in the city, but the MCB has not dared to remove these.

In the new policy, a provision of constituting a flying squad has been kept to keep a check on illegal advertisements.

Nobody will be allowed to install hoardings on their terrace and one hoarding per floor of the shopkeeper would be allowed.

Another point has been added to the policy is that any company which has been blacklisted will not be able to install advertisement hoardings.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said nobody would be allowed to install illegal advertisements in the city and the new policy would be implemented in the coming days.