Bihar to unveil a policy for hoardings soon

A day ago, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who is also the minister of the UDHD, had said that the draft policy was put into the public domain for inviting people’s opinion, as per the high court’s order.

The Bihar government is set to unveil a policy for displaying hoardings in urban areas, a senior official of the urban development and housing department (UDHD) said on Saturday.

Hoardings in Patna. (HT file)

“The department has decided to bring the policy through ordinance, as the state legislature is not in the session. The hoarding policy, which was approved by the cabinet earlier this year, was challenged in the Patna high court on the ground that it did not have mandatory legislative sanction. Hence, the policy would be notified as an ordinance,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.

Additional chief secretary (UDHD) Arunish Chawla said he would be able to share details of the policy once the draft for necessary clearance is ready. “Maybe, next week,” said Chawla.

A day ago, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who is also the minister of the UDHD, had said that the draft policy was put into the public domain for inviting people’s opinion, as per the high court’s order. “The stipulated time period is likely to over soon. The state cabinet has already approved the policy,” Yadav had told reporters in Patna.

Officials said the decision to regulate hoardings on government or private land was taken primarily for two purposes — to retain the aesthetic sense of roads and prevent accidents due to haphazard and aesthetically bad advertisements and to help the urban local bodies (ULBs) in the state in generating revenue from advertisements. “Currently, only Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has a policy for hoarding, besides some other municipal corporations. These ULBs are unable to get good returns from the road side advertisements for want of a clear-cut policy,” said an official.

The proposed policy clearly stipulates that hoardings that affect scenic view or interfere with traffic lighting system would not be allowed to be put up. “The policy also stipulates strict action for those putting up unauthorised banners and posters on traffic poles, electric poles etc, on roads or flyovers. An estimated two lakh banners and posters are put up on roadside poles every month. Most of them are by political parties,” said the official.

The policy also stipulates separate charges for hoardings in different types of urban areas. The ULBs will approve installation of hoardings for a period of three years, which would be renewed on yearly basis.

The ULBs will levy the registration charge in the rage of ₹2 lakh to ₹65,000 in municipal corporation areas, depending up their population, ₹1 lakh to ₹35,000 in the town council areas and ₹50,000- ₹25,000 in nagar panchayats.