E-Paper
9,137 illegal political hoardings removed during the elections
According to civic officials, between January 2018 and January 2019, BMC had removed 12,457 illegal banners and posters, of which 7,167 were political.
During the month-long period of the model code of conduct before Mumbai went to Lok Sabha polls on April 29, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) found 9,137 illegal banners, posters and wall defacements, all political in nature, bearing names of parties or leaders. However, the civic body prosecuted offenders in only 52 cases.
According to civic officials, between January 2018 and January 2019, BMC had removed 12,457 illegal banners and posters, of which 7,167 were political.
According to the latest data from BMC’s licence department, of the 9,137, 1,415 were posters, 2,248 were banners, 4,587 were wall or tree hangings, cut-outs at signal or lamp posts, political flags, and 882 were wall writings and defacements.
Of these, 369 were found on private property.
The superintendent of BMC’s licence department, Sharad Bande, said, “In cases where these hoardings are on private walls or buildings, but are facing the road and are visible from it, then they come under BMC’s jurisdiction.”
However, the low figure of cases for which the BMC launched prosecutions has irked activists, who said the only way to discourage parties from repeating such offences is by prosecuting in every single case.
Activist Nikhil Desai pointed out that there is a high court order that has chalked out a procedure for legal action in such cases of defacement of public property.
He said, “According to this order, BMC must lodge FIRs against the city head of the respective political party, regardless of which party worker put up the poster. It is the job of the city head to make sure his party workers do not use the party or candidate’s name for such illegal activity.”
Bhagwanji Rayani, an activist who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court regarding the matter, said, “Under the Defacement of Property Act, putting up illegal hoardings is a cognisable offence. In each case, there should be an FIR.”
