Civic body to approve new outdoor advertising policy

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 20

The General House meeting of the Municipal Corporation will be held here on July 23.

Apart from the new advertising policy of 2018, proposals for the maintenance of green belts and parks will be discussed at the meeting.

Informing more, Mayor Jagdish Raja said as per the proposal, the civic body would pay up to Rs2.50 per sqm every month to resident welfare associations or NGOs for the parks’ upkeep.

“We will try to collect funds through entry tickets or introducing paid parking or by installing kiosks inside the maintained parks. We will also offer NGOs to name a park. They can also maintain it on their own,” said Raja.

The Mayor added that maintenance activities would include landscaping, housekeeping and solid waste management.

Besides lights in the parks, playground equipment (slides, swing set, see-saw and climbing frame) will be installed, the Mayor said.

The civic body is going to approve the Punjab Municipal Outdoor Advertising Policy and Bylaws 2018.

The new policy will regulate the process of outdoor advertising to address technological changes in the field. The state will get an additional amount of Rs 200 crore from the policy.

The new policy, passed by the Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has stipulated provisions for permissible content on outdoor advertisements and it also provides identification of suitable places where advertisement rights can be awarded.

In the absence of such kind of policy, the government failed to generate more revenue while private companies were making money.

Under the policy, separate advertisement sites have been proposed. These places will be reserved for government advertisements, which can be utilised by the government anytime.

Under the policy, certain advertisement sites can be reserved for social and religious works. It has also proposed a ban on any advertisement, which is on historical and archaeological buildings.

Besides, it has empowered civic bodies to regulate the outdoor advertisements within their jurisdiction effectively.