Action to be taken against illegal hoardings in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans to take stringent action against illegal hoardings which is the robbing the exchequer of Rs 75 crore annually.

Member Mayor in Council, Parks and Gardens, Faiaz Ahmed Khan told newsmen that electronic chips will be inserted in the hoardings which will enable the inspectors to monitor the details of the hoardings.

Any violation of the specified size and other details of the hoarding would be available on the sets of 15 inspectors once the chips are inserted, he said.

The pilot project will be taken up this month and all the hoardings in the metropolis were expected to be covered under the plan by next year, he said.

At present, the KMC earns a revenue of Rs 26 crore through hoardings which was expected to exceed Rs 100 crore once the plan was implemented, he said. The plan would require Rs 20-25 lakh for its implementation, he said.
In a separate development, KMC commissioner Alapan Bandopadhyay has issued a circular banning any illegal construction in the municipal parks, Ahmed said.

Any proposal for construction of a structure like a shed or a toilet inside a park would henceforth be finalised by the Parks and Garden department of the KMC, the circular said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya today agreed to convert Park Circus Maidan into a model park.
The Bharat Chamber of Commerce was given the responsibility of converting the park into a model park.