A signboard on Bailey Road in Patna. Telegraph picture

The state cabinet on Tuesday approved a regulation that would enable Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to control display of advertisements, hoardings and billboards in areas under its jurisdiction.

“The cabinet gave the nod to a proposal of the urban development department for regulating placements of hoardings and billboards. Till now, there was no norm to regulate the wanton display of advertisements in the PMC areas,” cabinet coordination department principal secretary Ravikant told reporters.

“The cabinet approved PMC (Grant of Permission for Display of Advertisements and Similar Devices) Regulation, 2012. This is a draft model and it can be adopted by six other municipal corporations in the state as well,” he added. These corporations are in Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Biharsharif, Ara and Gaya.

The new norm would ensure all kind of vigil on advertisement activities in the municipal areas — placement of advertisements, rate control and methods to collect revenue by the municipal body.

The regulation has also defined the meaning of advertisements, hoardings, bill-boards and its fees to be charged by the PMC at various zones, he said.

It has also clarified various sizes of advertisement display boards that would be put on specified buildings and areas. The advertisements would be displayed in permissible colours so that it should not pose any difficulty for traffic, the principal secretary said, adding that the regulation has also specified the minimum distance between the two hoardings.

On the fees to be charged by the PMC, Ravikant said the structure was exhaustive as it depended on the locality and size of the advertisements.

He made it clear that the PMC commissioner would have the power to allow free display of advertisements for for educational, religious and charitable organisations.

But there are restrictions too in the regulation which talks about certain places and situations where advertisements can not be displayed, Ravikant said and added that hoardings cannot be displayed on heritage buildings such as archaeological, historical, aesthetical and heritage importance besides at some strategic locations on traffic points.

According to official records, there are around 150 hoardings in the PMC area on government land and 676 on private land or buildings.