Billboards have reappeared in the BBD Bag area, thwarting the civic body’s attempt to recreate the Raj ambience of the heritage zone.

Senior civic officials have blamed the alleged negligence of the public works department (PWD), which is responsible for maintaining the area, for the return of the billboards.

“Any company willing to put up a billboard there will have to take the PWD’s consent,” said an official.

During a recent inspection of the Rs 1.5-crore beatification drive of the billboard-free zone, municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay had spotted eight billboards and lamp post kiosks on the stretch between GPO and Laldighi.

The facade of Writers’ Building cannot be seen from the stretch because of a giant billboard of the PS Group.

“These eyesores must be pulled down immediately,” Bandyopadhyay said.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya has asked the commissioner to bring the matter to the state government’s notice. “Billboards should not be allowed in the BBD Bag area. I will look into the matter,” said PWD minister Kshiti Goswami.

The BBD Bag beautification drive, extending from GPO to the Council House Street crossing to the west of Laldighi, was started one-and-a-half years ago.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the mayor are scheduled to jointly inspect the progress of work later this month. The civic body plans to extend the project up to Lyons Range in the north and Raj Bhavan in the south.

As part of the beatification drive, the CMC Act, 1980, was amended in 2006 to bestow the heritage zone status on the northern, southern and western sides of Laldighi.

“The civic authorities, with the state government’s consent, also declared the area a billboard-free zone,” said Anindya Karforma, the director-general of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s project management unit.

Following the declaration, a joint team of the civic body and the PWD pulled down dozens of hoardings in the area last year. “But all our efforts seem to have been wasted because of the PWD’s negligence,” said a civic official.