Team from Chandigarh checks MCB ad record

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 13

A team of the Local Bodies Department, Chandigarh, on Thursday visited the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) office to probe the ‘illegal’ advertisements installed in the city.

The team of two officials checked documents, files and record related to advertisement for around one hour.

The team checked the file pertaining to huge hoardings installed above the public toilet in front of the bus stand and found some irregularities.

It is learnt that advertisement size installed above the public toilet is quite huge as compared to the approved size in the tender.

SDO Ishan Goyal of the vigilance wing of the Local Bodies Department said they had received a complaint that illegal advertisement boards had been installed in the city against the norms. Contractors are minting money by installing huge hoardings more than the size approved in the tenders, the complaint said.

Ishan Goyal said the probe is in the last stage and soon they would compile the report and would submit it to the Chief Vigilance Officer and other officials so that further action could be initiated.

On March 8, Ishan Goyal had visited the MCB office and checked the documents pertaining to illegal advertisements in the city.

He had clicked photographs of the illegal hoardings installed in various areas of the city and also collected record regarding the action that has been taken by the MCB against the violators so far.

Illegal hoardings and defacement of public and private property by pasting posters is going on unabated in the city.

Even the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued directions against illegal hoardings. The court had directed to spare the GT Road, highways and key roads in the towns from installing these hoardings.

A round of the city shows how the High Court orders are being defied. Huge hoardings and billboards have come up by roadsides at key points.