Clockwise from top left: illegal hoardings, arches, banners, posters, graffiti are erected damaging the beauty of the capital and posing threat to public safety at Farmgate, Shantinagar and Rajarbagh in Dhaka. The photos were taken on Thursday.
There is no enforcement of a law enacted four years ago to check hoardings, arches, banners, posters, graffiti and other propagating materials that create public nuisance, pose threat to public life and deface beauties of the cities and municipal towns.
Lawyers and green activists said that the local government ministry issued a gazette notification in March 2012 stating that the law enacted on February 20, 2012, would come into force from April 2012.
The ministry is, however, yet to frame a set of rules for the proper enforcement of the law although the capital is now flooded with such propagating materials that are posing threat to lives of city dwellers especially during storm and monsoon, they said.
They said that local government bodies on various excuses were reluctant to enforce the Graffiti Writing and Poster Sticking Control Act 2012 that was being violated mostly by ruling party putting propaganda hoardings, posters, banners, arches and graffiti to mark its political programmes.
Dhaka North city mayor Annisul Haque said at a press conference at his office on Friday that 200 unauthorised hoardings were identified and they would be removed in compliance with a High Court order.
The High Court on August 14 passed the order asking the two city corporations in Dhaka to report the court by August 22 on the compliance of its verdict pronounced on March 18, 2012 that asked the corporations to remove all unauthorised hoardings, arches, banners, posters and graffiti and other propaganda materials.
After hearing a petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, the court on August 14 also asked the two city corporations to report it the legal actions taken against the users of the illegal hoarding, arches and other propaganda materials.
Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan joint secretary Iqbal Habib expressed his dissatisfaction with the non-enforcement of the law.
He told New Age on Friday that local government bodies took no step to enforce the law on different excuses including the absence of rules as the ruling party was violating the law.
The law empowers the local government bodies to frame rules on how, where and whom they would allow sticking posters and graffiti writings, he said.
Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik described the law as ‘impractical’ and called on the politicians to change the culture of sticking posters causing public nuisance.
‘If one law is not enforced, people would not obey other laws,’ he said.
‘Our culture of politics and politicians of sticking such posters cannot be changed by a law,’ said Shahdeen, adding that politicians needed to change before enactment of such a law.
Rights lawyer Manzill Murshid said that the High Court on March 22, 2010 also passed an order asking the two city corporations to submit lists of the authorised hoardings to the court and to remove the illegal ones immediately.
He said that the directive came following a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh after the death of a pedestrian caused by the collapse of a hoarding at Shahbagh.
In the directive, the High Court also asked the two city corporations to start immediate removal of all unauthorised hoardings in the capital.
It also directed the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner to submit a report in two weeks how many hoardings were set up by the police in the capital and on what legal grounds those were set up.
The city corporations had to postpone an eviction drive against illegal hoardings in Shahbagh intersection on March 18, 2010 as Shahbagh police suddenly withdrew from the drive within an hour.
The law empowers the local government bodies to designate places for sticking or setting up posters or hoardings issuing officer orders.
It also stipulates that such propagating materials may be pasted or set up at places beyond the designated areas on permission from the authorities concerned on conditions and manners set by the authorities.
The violators of the law would be fined with an amount ranging from Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 or might be jailed for 15 days for failure to pay the fine, stipulates the law.
It also says that the offenders have to remove the illegal posters, graffiti or hoardings at their own costs.
The law empowers Mobile Court to hold summery trial of the offenders.
The law makes liable each director, manager, secretary, partner, officer and employee of a company collectively for the violation of the law.
The law defines a ‘wall’ as the interior and exterior walls of a house, office, court, educational institution, business centre, factory, shop or any foundation or boundary demarcation fence and tree, electrical pillar or post, road island, road divider, bridge, culvert, upper portion of the road and roof of a house.
It defines poster as any publicity placard, picture, advertisement and any type of banner and hoarding made of paper, cloth, or neon signs.
The law states that during other elections, however, graffiti writing or poster pasting would require prior permission from the concerned electoral authorities.
Annisul said that he knew that there were some propagating posters and banners of ward councillors were still displayed in their areas and asked them to remove those immediately.
He said that the city corporation had a government order to project its development activities at designated places.
On May 26, 2015, the mayor soon after assuming office, said that two-thirds of the hoardings in his city areas were illegal and promised to remove them soon.
Source: New Age
