Kochi: The intensive drive to clear unauthorised bill boards, initiated by the City Corporation in the wake of High Court criticism against the government and local bodies for the failure in removing illegal bill boards and hoardings, is turning to be a success. Most of the city roads and public places in the city are now free of illegal bill boards. It is with the support of Sign Printing Industries Assoc-iation (SPIA) that the Corporation could ma-ke the drive a success.
“All illegal bill boa-rds will be removed by October 31 as per the High Court order. Inst-ruction has been given to all section officials including Revenue and Health to identify the unauthorised bill boards and clear them. Unlike previous driv-es, the Corporation co-uld remove most of the advertisement boa-rds illegally erected in public places,” said Shainy Mathew, Town Planning Committee chairperson. “Despite the strict warning, advertisers will put up new boar-ds. Hence, the drive will continue on regular basis to keep away illegal bill boards,” she added.
Several truckloads of flex boards from the city areas collected by the SPIA were sent to its recycling plant at Mandya, Karnataka for processing.
Though the Corporation had earlier initiated several drives to remove illegal bill boards, it failed to succeed due to lack of proper follow-up and support from stakeholders.
