Illegal advertisements, banners, billboards, and ads are causing losses to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) as they are not paying the required fees. GHMC’s Directorate of Enforcement, Vigilance, and Disaster Management (EV&DM) recently removed over 120 illegal advertisements in a special drive to clean up the city.
The issue of illegal hoardings was raised by corporators in a GHMC standing committee meeting. As a result, the EVDM wing of GHMC has been conducting a major drive to remove illegal hoardings across the city. Director N Prakash Reddy stated that they are removing these hoardings whenever they receive complaints. Residents can report illegal advertisements through official channels or by calling the control room.
During the drive, 80 traffic umbrellas, 20 illegal bus shelter displays, and four illegal bus shelters were removed around KBR Park in Jubilee Hills. Despite issuing several notices to violators, the EVDM wing took action when no response was received and imposed penalties as necessary. Special teams were deployed to identify unauthorized hoardings at various locations such as unipoles, bus shelters, arches, electrical pole kiosks, and obligatory spans.
After inspections in all six zones and 30 circles, illegal advertisements will be removed. The GHMC has faced significant losses in advertisement revenue due to unauthorized hoardings in the past. To address this issue, a new advertisement policy allowing LED hoarding advertisements up to 15 meters high is being considered. The proposals have been submitted to the State government for approval as they work on developing a new advertising policy.
