Unable to earn a single penny in the last two years due to litigation, Bathinda municipal corporation has devised a new policy to earn up to ₹5 crore annually from organised outdoor publicity sites.
MC officials say the step will help the local body in making it financially self-sustainable as it has identified a 40,000 sq feet area for its maiden experiment of direct space selling on more than 1,500 uniploes, streetlight poles, bus queue shelters and kiosks in different sizes.
The scheme was started on February 22 and in the first phase of its launch, the MC received ₹17.50-lakh till Sunday.
Municipal commissioner Rahul, a 2017 batch IAS officer, said now anyone can book earmarked public places by applying online even for one day. The portal shows the availability status of each site.
“In the pilot period, we have opened booking for 50% space where even the government institutes will also be charged for using MC space. Besides making publicity affordable for traders, organisations or NGOs, MC will generate revenue. Pre-paid booking will phase out the earlier problem of delay in getting payments. It will also end the cartelisation of private contractors and anyone can book the space for 90 days only,” he added.
As per Punjab government rules, an urban local body can give a tender of outdoor publicity to only one contractor in its jurisdiction through competitive bidding. But there is no bar on a municipality to rent out public platforms online for outdoor publicity.
{{/usCountry}}As per Punjab government rules, an urban local body can give a tender of outdoor publicity to only one contractor in its jurisdiction through competitive bidding. But there is no bar on a municipality to rent out public platforms online for outdoor publicity.
{{/usCountry}}Rahul clarified that the new scheme does not bar contractors from availing of the facility.
“Since rates of each site are mentioned on the web portal with detailed geo-location, a customer may bargain with a contractor for fair charges for the sublet space. While booking any space can be even for a day, it will be available only for 90 days on a stretch after which booking will be reopened,” he added.
Officials said the provision was abused on various occasions in the past and the Bathinda MC, the largest local body in the south Punjab, decided to take control over space allotment by not including the contractors.
It can be useful for other small urban local bodies with limited revenue sources, they added.
“In 2019-20, Bathinda MC earned ₹1.70 crore whereas in the next two fiscal we did not get even a single penny due to litigation by contractors. While the city has a huge presence of illegal hoardings, MC was not getting any fees. As we are providing publicity space at affordable rates and in a completely transparent manner, we will go after unauthorised billboards in the city,” added the commissioner.