No case registered against illegal hoardings in Kalyan, reveals RTI

An engineer from Kalyan city who sought information on the same through RTI found that no FIR has been registered by the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation till date against illegal hoardings and banners; the HC asked why no FIR was registered in such cases and termed the non-compliance of orders against illegal banners, posters, hoardings, and advertisements as an alarming situation

The Bombay High Court (HC) had, last month, asked all the civic corporations and the Maharashtra State Government to submit a report on the steps taken against illegal hoardings. An engineer from Kalyan city who sought information on the same through Right to Information (RTI) found that no FIR has been registered by the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) till date against illegal hoardings and banners.

A Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation staff removing illegal banners and hoardings. (HT PHOTO)

The HC asked why no FIR was registered in such cases and termed the non-compliance of orders against illegal banners, posters, hoardings, and advertisements as an alarming situation.

“Two months back, I came across an incident where a banner fell on a woman who was passing by and was injured. The issue is something the civic body has not paid attention to,” said Bhushan Pawar, 27, an IT engineer who resides in Kalyan.

Pawar put up an RTI query on May 11 asking KDMC for details of FIR registered against illegal banners and hoardings. “They provided me with only the details of five wards while there are 10 wards. Also, in the five wards, it showed that they have removed several banners and hoardings all these years. However, not a single case is registered against the violators. This is probably the reason why there is no control over illegal banners and hoardings in the city as there are no cases filed by the civic body,” Pawar said.

He added that he merely got details of a single ward on the number of posters pulled down.

In KDMC, there is a dedicated squad in each ward that looks after illegal banners and hoardings.

“This squad keeps roaming in the city and if there is a complaint on an illegal banner, they reach the spot and remove it. Hundreds of such hoardings are removed and it is practically not possible to keep registering a case in each matter. No FIR has been registered in this matter till now” said Suhas Gupte, in-charge officer, KDMC.

Gupte claimed that collecting details from each ward takes time, though they send a compiled list to the State every month.