Hoardings atop private buildings in sambalpur. telegraph picture Subrat Mohanty

Sambalpur, Dec. 15: The municipality here has launched a drive to remove unauthorised billboards from the main roads. So far, it has pulled down 11 hoardings.

The responsibility of putting up advertising boards had been given to a firm in 2011-12 for Rs 2.85 lakh. Its contract expired on March 31, 2012. Subsequently, the municipality floated tender for the hoardings for 2012-13 and a few firms took part in the process.

However, the municipality did not finalise the tender. Due to the absence of a new contractor, the space for advertisement became free for everyone. Several people started using the 84 frames, which are under the jurisdiction of Sambalpur Municipality, to advertise their products without paying money to the civic body.

After failing to collect money from the advertisers, the civic body launched the drive against illegal billboards.

“We have already removed 11 unlawful hoardings. The drive will continue. We will not remove the hoardings of those who have paid the municipality for using the space for advertisements,” said executive officer of Sambalpur Municipality Anirudhha Padhan. He said the municipality would not award the contract to private firms. “It will manage the hoardings and collect money from advertisers,” he said.

A local resident, Dhananjaya Tripathy, said: “Several people were using the spaces for ads without paying the municipality. Consequently, the civic body lost lakhs of rupees in revenue. I am happy to see that the municipality has finally initiated steps to remove illegal hoardings.”

Another resident, Sibashish Mishra, said the civic body could take up several developmental works in the municipal limit from the revenue generated from hoardings.