In 2-year, ‘19,010 challans’ issued in city teeming with illegal adverts

Times of India: Ludhiana: Monday, 09 March 2020.

Two years after the state government notified outdoor advertisement policy, the municipal corporation is yet to ensure its effective implementation.

While illegal advertisements dot almost every nook and cranny of the city, the MC challaning drive falls way short to curb the violation.

In its reply to an application filed under the RTI Act, the civic body revealed that 2,660 challans were issued in Zone A, 6,400 in Zone B, 1,500 in Zone C and 8,450 in Zone D from April 2018 till February 2020.

Rohit Sabharwal, an activist, had filed the application, seeking number of challans issued in all four zones in the past two years.

Sabharwal said, “The March 2018 notification of the policy, which aims at checking illegal advertisements, clearly spelt out that every city will have a nodal officer, who will give regular reports to the MC commissioner. In case the nodal officer fails to perform the duty, then revenue loss would be recovered from his/her salary.”

But the civic body did nothing of the sort. “In these two years, there were months, especially around general elections, when not a single challan was issued. In total, 19,010 challans were issued in the city teeming with illegal advertisements. The nodal officer can impose a fine ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 50,000 on the violators. I have raised the matter with the Punjab chief secretary and sought a vigilance inquiry against those causing a loss to the state exchequer,” he added.

The civic body, however, claimed that it was issuing challans regularly to check illegal advertisements.

MC superintendent of advertisement (headquarters) Harvinder Dhalla said, “We issue challans to defaulters whenever we find irregularities. A few months saw dip in the number of challans due to elections, as at the time, our focus was more on removing political hoardings.”

No policy details on MC website

To ensure transparency, the policy mentioned that the required information will be available on the MC website. This includes name and contact number of the MC-appointed nodal officer and areas under his or her jurisdiction. Besides, it will also display details like: types of advertisement devices permitted, their number, size, location; the company responsible for displaying advertisements and its contact number, among others. The MC website, however, is blank on it.