A Jadavpur resident complained about torn banners hanging from hoardings and overhead cables hanging dangerously near his home and urged mayor Firhad Hakim to see that these were removed at the weekly phone-in programme Talk to the Mayor on Saturday.
Hakim had earlier said advertisements and overhead cables were an eyesore in the city. The Telegraph has reported several times how the cables and dilapidated hoardings pose a threat to people and also make the city ugly.
“I stay near Sukanta Setu. There are many hoardings here where the display banners are in shreds. Even the large street light with five to seven lamps has a hoarding,” said the caller. “Please do something about this.”
He went on to add that the entrance to his house was clogged with overhead cables of internet, cable TV and other services. “There are 50 to 100 cables of various companies and services. They have clogged the entry to my house,” he said.
Hakim asked the chief engineer of the KMC’s electricity department to snip the cables. He did not comment or promise anything on the state of the hoardings.
“Snip the cables. We have been telling them (the cable operators, multi-system operators and internet service providers) to remove the cables for a long time. But they are not doing anything,” said Hakim.
Broken hoardings dot the city. Many of them are unsafe and prone to collapse. Officials of outdoor advertising agencies and KMC officials said that the hoardings have not been under maintenance for over two years.
There are about 250 standalone hoardings that rise from footpaths, which the KMC owns. The civic body used to hand over leases to run the hoardings to agencies. But for the last two years, the KMC has not found an agency.
An outdoor advertising agency owner said that since there were very few advertisements coming, no agency agreed to pay a lease amount to the KMC realising that they would be unable to recover the cost and make profit.
The ugly structures live on. The KMC has done little to ensure that the structures are safe to stand in public places.
The hoardings that jut out from buildings, too, have safety issues as the civic body rarely conducts health audits and leaves their maintenance to house owners and advertising agencies.
In September, Hakim had called the overhead cables and advertisement hoardings eyesores and promised an outdoor advertisement policy. The KMC has not yet announced the policy.
