A year on, Zirakpur MC finally floats tenders for advertisements

As per the new Punjab Outdoor Policy, 2018, every corporation and council has been directed to publish new tenders to generate revenue from advertisements

After a gap of one year, the municipal council of Zirakpur will finally float a cluster tender for display of advertisements on unipoles and other outdoor advertising media on October 29. The cluster includes Zirakpur, Lalru, Dera Bassi and Banur.

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The contract of the agency called Degraphics, which was allotted the tender in 2016 for a period of three years at a cost of ₹2.06 crore for three years, had expired in September 2019. The council had, however, extended it till June 30, 2020, and again by four weeks.

MC executive officer Sandeep Tiwari said, “We have got the approval from the local bodies department and we will be floating the tenders on October 29. We have also started a drive to remove illegal hoarding from the township.”

As per the new Punjab Outdoor Policy, 2018, every corporation and council has been directed to publish new tenders to generate revenue from advertisements.

There are several illegal hoardings erected on the highway, but no effective drive has been conducted for the last two years. In 1995, the Punjab and Haryana high court had issued directions to all deputy commissioners to have illegal hoardings on national as well as state highways removed, saying that not only were they eyesores, they also diverted the attention of motorists leading to fatal accidents. Since then, the court has issued several reminders in this regard, but no action has been taken by the authorities concerned.