Buildings and roadside spaces in Dhaka city have been swamped by illegal billboards but the authorities seem to be unconcerned.
City corporation officials said that, though putting up billboards without permission was illegal, there were no provision for penalty.
According to the rules, a billboard should not be bigger than 600 sq ft, whereas most of those hoisted by commercial houses are between 1,000 and 1,200 sq ft.
The hazards of erecting huge billboards go unnoticed. They become especially dangerous during heavy showers and storm, causing fatalities when they fall apart.
Last Saturday two building workers were killed at Bijoy Sarani. At Shahbagh, an MP and his colleagues were injured after a billboard crashed on their car.
The same day, a number of billboards collapsed in different parts of the city.
The matter had been discussed with the South Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) official Ansar Ali Khan.
He told reporters there were no records of anyone being penalized for hoisting oversize billboards. But on many occasions City Corporation had pulled down some of the illegal ones.
Dhaka South City Corporation’s commercial and city beautification division official toldbdnews24.com each billboard should have an authorization number at the back of it. But most of them do not seem to have it, making it difficult to identify the unauthorised ones.
“Most boards are not made according to our specifications. Firms make boards of their own measurement after getting the authorization number.”
According to DCC data, the city has 1,200 legal billboards, whereas the number of illegal ones exceeds a couple of thousand.
An official of the DCC North said most of the billboards were hoisted in the dead of night and it was for the police to keep watch at that hour.
“This could be minimized if police patrols ask for the authorization letters.”
DCC South commercial section stated that in the past one and half years 98 unauthorized and risky billboards had been brought down.
About 700 billboards are allowed to be put up in that area, but their actual number has never been ascertained.
DCC North official Bipon Kumar Shaha said, “We do not have enough manpower. A magistrate and police personnel have to be present at the site when billboards are taken down.
“The problem is mostly ignored due to inadequate human resources. Besides, the DCC lacks powerful cranes needed to tear down huge billboards.”
He said, henceforth, legal action would be taken against the offenders.
“A 1,000 sq ft billboard has been identified at the city’s Tejgaon areaon Tuesday. A General Diary has been made at the police station. From now on, legal action would be taken in addition to tearing down the boards.”
Asked if there were penalties for flouting billboard rules, the official told reporters cases could be filed under 1986 Revenues Act Section 70(2) in the absence of clear instructions.
Source: Bd news24
