Gearing up for its polls scheduled next year, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) began cracking down on illegal hoardings across the city. This will help ensure public spaces are not misused, it said. “Even at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, political parties had put up hoardings to boast about their contribution to combat the virus. Many hoardings also displayed information, such as helpline numbers. All such banners had political parties’ symbols and had to be taken down as per the BMC policy. With the polls approaching, we expect similar hoardings will be put up again,” a BMC official said.
According to the BMC data, in the last one year, more than 7,500 illegal hoardings were taken down(from April 1, 2020 to March 31 2021). “More than 90% of these hoardings were Happy Birthday messages and advertisements campaigns by political workers,” a BMC official said.
Last year, BMC approved a new hoarding policy that mandated a 100 mt minimum distance between the hoardings. An official said that a joint meeting will be conducted with group leaders of all parties to ensure the protocols are followed.
