Corporation workers load an iron pillar of an illegal hoarding on to a truck in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 26: The municipal corporation has started a drive to remove unauthorised hoardings from government land across the city.

The drive, which started two days ago, will continue till March 13. However, within three days, the enforcement staff of the licensing wing of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation have dismantled 71 illegal hoardings — both big and small.

Out of the 19 hoardings dismantled today, two were of 200sqft. Among the big hoardings, one was of a public-sector bank, while the other belonged to a national-level public housing corporation.

Head of the corporation’s licencing wing Srimanta Mishra said: “In the first two days, dismantling of hoardings were carried out at Laxmi Sagar and Mancheswar police station areas. However, to have a smooth operation, we have already made a chart. Today, we had planned to remove illegal hoardings from both the sides of the road along Sishu Bhawan and Ram Mandir Square, but the drive ended at Master Canteen Square. The remaining areas of the stretch will be taken up shortly.’’

The corporation has 600 authorised hoardings in the city, which was given to an advertising agency against a rental payment of Rs 9.48 crore per year through tender.

“If people use government land without paying money to the civic body, then it is a financial loss to the municipal corporation. Hence, the drive was necessitated,’’ said an official.

Apart from the hoardings on government land, those on rooftop of private buildings are also paying around Rs 2 crore to the civic body every year as according to the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, anything that is meant for public display is subjected to licencing fees by the civic body.

“We have 200-250 rooftop hoardings in the city. But, as the corporation has not conducted a survey recently, the exact number is not known,’’ Mishra said.

“We allow the owners to take back the iron frames if they want after paying a license fee,’’ said another official of the civic body’s licensing wing. The wing will carry out similar drives at several places across the city over the next few weeks.