After three years, Bengaluru may once again see huge advertising hoardings or billboards on rooftops and roadsides. The Urban Development Department (UDD) of Karnataka government has notified the implementation of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Advertisement Rules 2021 on July 26. The new rule allows licensed advertisers to erect billboards albeit with certain regulations. While advertisers and agencies have welcomed the move, activists have object, saying the government decision should have been withheld until the next BBMP elections for people’s representatives.
In August 2018, the BBMP passed the BBMP Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Byelaw, banning advertising using billboards, for a period of one year. This was after the Karnataka High Court pulled up the civic body for the illegal hoardings mushrooming in the city. While the Urban Development Department framed the draft BBMP Advertisement Rules, 2019, which attempted to bring back hoardings with certain regulations, the BBMP opposed it. Meanwhile, the HC directed the BBMP to clear all illegal hoardings. The same 2019 draft rules were finally notified in July 2021. According to the notification, “The Karnataka government is of the opinion that the said the byelaws 2018 are not adequate for the purpose of regulating the outdoor advertisements
According to the current rules, only licensed or registered advertisers or advertising agencies will be allowed to display hoardings. Every advertiser or advertising agency will be required to get a license from the BBMP and renew it every three years. Further, the rules have stipulated instructions on the size, location, material and fees for advertising. The maximum size of the wall-mounted and rooftop billboards or hoardings will be based on the width of the road where it will be set up. The billboards on narrow roads should be smaller, while those on wider roads can be bigger. Further, sizes and the height from the base of the structure has been stipulated for billboards located on the ground, LED and LCD advertising screens and trivision panels.
However, billboards cannot be places in the following parts of the city
> Kumara Krupa Road, Windsor Manor Jn to Shivananda Circle
> Rajbhavan Road. High Grounds to Minsk Square
> Sankey Road. High Grounds to Windsor Yield Signal
> Ambedkar Veedhi, KR Circle to Infantry Road Junction
> Post Office Road, KR Circle to SBI Circle (KG Road)
> Chalukya Circle
> Maharani College Road/Sheshadri Road
> KR Circle
> Environs of Cubbon Park and Lalbagh
> Nrupatunga Road, KR Circle to Police Corner Junction
> Palace Road, SBI Circle to Chalukya Circle
According to the current rules, the material used for printing the advertisement has to be a completely biodegradable material and cannot contain any form of plastic.
The notification also stipulates the fee for different types of advertisements for a month. All fees also include a 15% health cess. For non-illuminated billboards, the advertiser will have to pay Rs 200 per square meter and for illuminated billboards, the charge is Rs 280 per square meter. Neon advertisements have a fee of Rs 375 per square meter. For trivision and other electronic advertisements, the fee is Rs 560.
Amid concerns from citizens about billboards returning, the Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA) held a press conference recently, welcoming the move considering the pandemic situation. The OAA alleged that the revival of billboards would provide jobs to over 25,000 people, including masons, erectors, electricians, welders, fabricators, painters, photographers and labourers. They also claimed that the advertising industry would bring in a revenue of Rs 52,74,36,000 per year. This is excluding the additional property tax that would be collected from building owners, they said.
When asked about the concerns over disturbing the aesthetics of the city, OAA’s secretary Manmohan Singh Maan argued that the billboards will only add to the aesthetic value of the city. “We, the association, will maintain the billboards in a way that it will be visually pleasing. If billboards are made well, with good designs, colours and illumination at night, it will add to the beauty of the city. Look at all the big cities in the world, like London, Paris, New York, Sydney, Moscow and Beijing. All these cities have billboards,” he said.
However, urban activists have questioned this move by the government, especially when there are no people’s representatives currently in the BBMP.
Speaking to TNM, Srinivas Alavilli from the civic participation team of Janagraha, said, “There were so many issues with these hoardings starting from the visual pollution and plastic materials used but now that is the past. However, the most important issue now is that these hoardings were voted out unanimously by all the councillors across the three main parties, the Congress, BJP and JD(S), back in 2018. However, now, the state government is trying to bring back these hoardings using legislation.”
The August 2018 bye laws that ban hoardings were passed by BBMP councillors. However, since the jurisdiction of the BBMP has been expanded and a delimitation process is underway, the council polls have been postponed. This means that there has been no elected representatives for civic issues in Bengaluru for almost a year now.
“The BBMP councillors had voted for the 2018 byelaws. Now, since there hasn’t been any election for the past year, the state government overturned the decision of the previous councillors. The government should have waited as there should be a chance for the people to express their concerns when there is a new elected body in the BBMP,” he said
“I am of the opinion that there should be advertising in the city but not as many as there were. For every 100 hoardings in the past, now there should be only five and all of them have to be digital. By this, one can sell the time of advertisement and not space. By this, the city will get revenue and also avoid visual pollution. This is how most of the modern cities such as London and San Francisco are dealing with this,” Srinivas pointed out.