E-Paper
PMC spends ₹3.50 crore to remove 720 illegal hoardings in 2022, recovers meagre ₹1.50 lakh
According to the bylaws,it is mandatory for the sky sign department to recover the expenditure incurred from the individual or company involved in erecting the unauthorised hoarding
The mushrooming of illegal posters, banners and flexes is an indication that those who put them up, crave publicity at the cost of the city’s beauty. These eyesores are now turning out to be a costly affair for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) who have failed to nip these illegal hoardings in the bud.
As per PMC data, the sky sign department had spent ₹3.50 crore in 2022 to remove unauthorised hoardings, thus putting a question mark over their inept functioning.
According to the rules, they are expected to stop the erection of illegal hoardings at the first stage. Ignoring the violation is turning out to be a costly affair for PMC as they have failed to recover the cost.
According to the bylaws,it is mandatory for the sky sign department to recover the expenditure incurred from the individual or company involved in erecting the unauthorised hoarding. However, official records state that the department has been able to recover the amount from only three persons during the entire year.
The records of Pune civic body state that in 2022 there were 2000 unauthorised hoarding across the city and the PMC was able to remove only 720 out of them. The PMC spends around ₹50,000 for removing one unauthorized hoarding structure.
Civic activist Daljeet Goraya said, “The government should not lose revenue from sky signs violations. There is a need to tighten vigilance from the top and anti corruption measures must be undertaken to increase revenue base.”
Madhav Jagtap, deputy commissioner, sky sign department said, “A deposit of ₹50,000 will be taken while allowing new hoardings. Also the income tax bill of the owner of the respective premises will be taken. Action to remove illegal hoarding is underway. Where hoarding professionals do not pay the fine of ₹50,000, this amount will be levied on the property tax of the owner. Proposals of 135 persons have been sent to the property tax department and remaining proposals will also be prepared and sent for recovery.”
The civic body does not have information on the owners of the illegal hoarding and in cases of bonafide identity detection, there have been allegations that the department went all out to protect the violators.
The sky sign department has recovered only ₹1.50 lakh in 2022 from three violators. The department after coming in for criticism had devised a scheme wherein it is holding the land owner as responsible for the erection of hoarding in absence of name and address of those who erected the illegal hoardings. Currently, a proposal seeking recovery of ₹50,000 from 135 land owners has been readied and it will be sent to the property tax department. The ₹50,000 expenditure will be added to the property tax bills of the landowners as part of the recovery process, the department officials stated.
For those erecting authorized hoardings, the PMC stated that businessmen were taking advantage of the loopholes. If the businessman does not pay the fine, a deposit of ₹ 50,000 will be taken to recover it. Along with this, it is mandatory to attach the income tax details of the owner.
