The Trinamool Congress-run board at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has made it mandatory to add QR codes on all display boards and hoardings featuring advertisements.
The decision has been made to restrict the installation of unwanted and illegal display boards and hoardings that block the view.
“The agencies engaged in the installation of hoardings or display boards will have to put QR code in every such display put in the city. This will help us to identify the unauthorised billboards and similar displays,” Rajesh Prashad Sha, the member, mayor-in-council, parking and advertisement of SMC, said on Friday.
According to the order, the respective agencies will have to include relevant information like the permission of SMC for the display, the size of the display, its validity period, and the agency’s name in the QR code.
“We can simply scan the code to know whether the display is legal or there has been any violation of the civil rules and regulations. This will also discourage the trend to put up illegal display boards, banners, hoardings, or any similar display, to evade civic taxes and charges levied by the civic body,” said a source at the SMC.
Sha said they have initiated a drive to remove unauthorised hoardings and display boards that have been installed without any permission from SMC.
“The drive is on, and we are removing such illegal boards. Now, this QR code will further help us to regularise advertisement displays across Siliguri,” he added.
As of now, there are over 1,000 hoardings or display boards in the SMC area. Such displays have often made a section of residents complain that the billboards obstruct the natural view of the city which has the hills in the backdrop.
“The billboards have been abruptly set up over the high-rise buildings and along all prominent thoroughfares of the city. We feel the civic body should draw up rules to ensure that such boards do not act as view-cutters,” said Animesh Bose, the programme coordinator of Himalayan Nature & Adventure Foundation, a Siliguri-based organisation that has been working on the conservation of nature and wildlife.