Greater Chennai Corporation will conduct an audit of the structural stability of scaffoldings that hold up the hoardings, billboards and banners in the city, at the zonal level, said Commissioner J.Radhakrishnan.
“In the light of the accident in Mumbai on May 13, in which an unauthorised hoarding fell killing 14 persons, kindly ensure that all illegal hoardings are removed and a special drive is undertaken to audit the structural stability of banners and hoardings. Keep a special watch over those near roads, petrol bunks and public places,” he instructed officials.
Since March 1, 514 illegal hoardings have been removed, 300 of which were taken off with the scaffolding. “In the last 15 days, 53 were removed in an intensified campaign. Most of the hoardings are those that were erected illegally without applying for a license and are structurally unsafe. Structural auditing will be done by structural engineers at the zonal-level,” said Additional Commissioner (Revenue and Finance) R. Lalitha.
An executive engineer of the Corporation mentioned that most of the structures were constructed out of steel. “All the banners and hoardings placed alongside roads, pavements and bridges are encroachments and will be removed soon as they are a safety threat to the public.”
Licensing procedure
There are four categories of space where the hoardings and banners can be put up — first in any open government land, second over bus shelters and third over centre medians, streetlights and parks, said Ms. Lalitha. The fourth is on private lands for which the parties willing to raise structures would need a license from the Corporation.
Every application for a licence to erect a hoarding shall be made to the Commissioner under Rule 320 of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 2023. The application must be submitted with the plan and location of the hoarding, stability certificate issued by a structural engineer of the civic body, No Objection Certificate (NOC) letter from the owner of the land or the authority of the concerned department owning the land, test certificate from a licenced electrical engineer and receipt for payment of the application fee from the local body, Ms. Lalitha added.
A ‘Single Window Committee’, consisting of officers from the civic body and traffic police personnel of the respective area would submit its recommendation to the Commissioner, states Rule 321.
“No license has been issued by this committee so far. There are 762 cases of illegal hoardings, of which some have paid a damage fee and can apply for a fresh licence. Roughly, 350 more have applied for licences and they are under scrutiny,” the official said.
With respect to the identification of hotspots where hoardings are erected illegally repeatedly even after action taken by the GCC, she said, “Spaces under the flyover and bus stands were used for placing hoardings or banners sans permit. A drive to identify locations where this offence takes place often can be planned after the Lok Sabha election results are announced.”
