MCH does some tough-speak on hoardings

HYDERABAD: The MCH, finally, appears to have read the writing on the wall. Or rather, on the hoardings that have been mushrooming all over the city.
Realising that there are lacunae in the regulation of hoardings, MCH has finally decided to amend its rules so that it becomes easy for to regulate the hoardings that are coming up in the city.
Even as the MCH says it has not given permission for hoardings, they have been mushrooming all over the city in the last two years.
According to MCH officials, any hoarding put up after December, 2001, is illegal. "MCH has not given permission for putting up hoardings anywhere in the city since then," an MCH official said. "We have served notices to the owners of illegal hoardings and if they do not remove them within a month, the MCH will demolish them," he added.
Meanwhile, MCH has begun removing small hoardings that HUDA permitted private companies to put up under flyovers. The MCH said HUDA cannot decide such matters on its own and that it is acting in a high-handed manner.
According to statistics available with the MCH, as many as 1,702 hoardings are there in the city. Of these, the owners of 1,453 hoardings have applied for renewal of their advertisement tax, the official said. The rest are illegal, he added.
"The private companies are putting up hoardings in a very dangerous manner.They do not care whether the hoardings erected are safe to the public; so we need to be very strict about this," the official added.
Not just HUDA, but several other departments like the Wakf board have of late earned a lot of revenue by allowing private companies to put up hoardings in their premises and later approaching the MCH for permission.
This is causing a lot of headache to the Corporation, he added.