Activists object BBMP’s move to bring back advertisements

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Citizens and activists based in the city have objected to the byelaws on public advertisements prepared by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), while some feel that the revenue factor is played down to the state government’s meagre share on taxes from the centre.

According to the BBMP (Advertisement) Bylaws, 2024, advertisements will be allowed on all roads which are wider than 60 feet. Roads near commercial or industrial areas will have advertisements without a limit on width.

This means commercial advertisements will make a comeback after six years, as the BBMP looks to encash Rs. 500 crore annually. Taking inspiration from its Delhi counterpart, the BBMP will allow hoarding of one advertiser every 100 metres of the notified road.

Advertisers can obtain space via a public auction, based on the guidance value of the said roads. Kiran Kumar, joint secretary of Changemakers for Kanakapura Road, pointed out negligence in bringing down illegal hoardings.

“This is one for visual pollution. With this confusing law, the public will be in dilemma if a particular boarding is an authorised or unauthorised one,” he further added.

Srinivas Alavilli, activist and fellow at the World Resources Institute (WRI), feels that the law should be stalled until the BBMP elections, “It is unfortunate that instead of getting fair share of taxes from Union & State governments, BBMP is forced to squeeze revenue out of our beautiful city by creating so much visual pollution,” he posted on X.

While Kumar agrees with the government not getting its share, he questioned the avenue in which the civic agency looks to encash on.

“However, generating revenue by creating visual pollution is not the way. Identifying illegal hoardings will be much more difficult now.,” he countered.

The maximum space an advertiser can bid for is upto 3000 square feet per one lakh square feet area in commercial roads. Rajkumar Dugar, from Citizens 4 Citizens felt that the BBMP needs to prioritise on the city’s road and collecting property tax.

“The civic agency needs to take cognizance of trees being cut for better visibility of said advertisements, which was earlier seen,” he concluded. The bylaw however, bans all kinds of advertisements on important roads like Kumarakrupa Road, Rajbhavan Road, Sankey Road, Ambedkar Veedhi, K R Circle, Kempegowda Road, Chalukya Circle and Palace Road.