Ggm residents launch drive to remove illegal hoardings, ads

Resident welfare associations gathered at Tulip Chowk and removed 400 posters, banners and illegal hoardings installed at public places

Gurugram: City residents of Sectors 69 and 70 have begun a drive to remove illegal hoardings from the five kilometre stretch between Vatika Chowk and Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) that was spoiling the green belt and leading to accidents at night.

Gurugram residents alleged that more than 1000 illegal banners and hoardings were set up on the stretch between Vatika Chowk and Southern Peripheral Road (SPR). (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The resident welfare associations (RWAs) of the area gathered at Tulip Chowk on Friday and removed nearly 400 posters, banners and illegal hoardings, advertisements installed at public places and Sector markets.

The RWAs alleged that despite repeated requests to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), nothing had been done and they were forced to start the drive to ensure their route is clean and well-maintained.

However, MCG officials said that they had launched such drives several times to remove illegal advertisements mushrooming in the city, but some realtors and other firms reinstall these without permission.

Pooja Anand, president, RWA Tulip Violet in Sector 69, said that they waited for at least six months for the civic agency to act but despite their repeated complaints no action was taken. “The entire stretch was overcrowded by the posters, hoardings and other advertisements and the numbers were increasing day by day. We decided to start the cleaning drive on our own so that the stretch leading to our societies looks neat and clean and free from illegal posters and hoardings,” she said.

Residents alleged that more than 1000 illegal banners and hoardings were set up on the stretch between Vatika Chowk and Southern Peripheral Road (SPR).

Several teams of residents reached the spot and dismantled the iron poles, frames and other material and removed these with the help of equipment they were carrying from their societies. They also cut iron pillars into small pieces so that they could not be reused, residents said.

Ajay Sharma, member of Tulip Ivory residents’ welfare association in Sector 70, said that the people installing illegal hoardings did not care for the installation, safety and the foundation of the poles. “As a result, in case of gusty winds they fall off often injuring commuters or pedestrians on the stretch. Thrice commuters were injured due to falling of boards. The safety of commuters is at risk on the stretch,” he said.

City residents on Friday demanded tough action against illegal hoardings and unipoles from MCG.

Hari Prakash, sub-divisional officer of MCG, said that their teams had been deployed across the city to remove illegal banners and hoardings. “We had sent our team on the SPR on Friday morning, and they have removed at least 500 illegal banners that were set up on Thursday late night. The number of banners and hoardings increase during the weekend and despite removal the private agencies involved in the work set them up again,” he said.

Prakash said there are only 172 authorised unipoles across the city and they have penalised over 500 people so far. “We are compiling a list of defaulters and strict action will be taken against them for carrying out illegal activities,” he said.