Ads make a solar switch

The hoardings in the city are going green.

The hoardings in the city are going green. And why would they not, when the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is giving rebates (worth one-third of the licence fee) to all advertisers who use non-conventional energy resources in illuminating hoardings.

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Encouraged by this move, a number of advertisers have started switching over from electricity to solar energy. For this, the advertisers get a rebate of Rs. 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh in their licence fee every month. Every advertiser is supposed to pay Rs. 2-2.5 lakh to the civic agency as licence fee every month.

“World-over, experts are coming up with new ways to tackle global warming. For instance, in Australia the electricity supply to all hoardings is switched off for one day every year. We are also trying to make a contribution and this is a first step in that direction. Already three of our zones - central, city and south have started using solar energy for hoardings. We are hoping more advertisers will be motivated to switch over to non-conventional energy resources,” said a corporation official.

The civic agency claims that there is a provision in the outdoor advertisement policy for remission to those who make use of non-conventional energy resources. The advertisers have to provide a letter that shows they have disconnected electricity to apply for the scheme.

The civic agency is planning use non-conventional energy sources for all its upcoming projects.

“The outdoor advertisement policy has been criticised for wasting electricity which is why we are focussing on solar energy for executing a lot of our projects. The 2,000 government-to-citizen kiosks that will be installed all across the city will make use of solar energy. We will also construct 2 lakh tehbazari kiosks, of which the ones in INA market will have solar panels,” added the official.