Cuttack, July 7: Come next week, the municipal corporation will launch a crackdown on illegal hoardings and other billboards that dot the city skyline.

A special squad has been formed to carry out the three-day long enforcement drive against illegal hoardings from July 13.

Official sources said the proposal in this regard was finalised yesterday evening.

The move comes after few advertising firms did not respond to the demand draft notice served by the civic body towards the payment of bills.

"We have decided to launch a special drive against the defaulters and illegal hoardings put up in all the 59 wards will be taken off in a phased manner," said a senior Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) official.

Earlier, notices were issued to 128 such firms for clearing dues worth Rs 5.17 crore for installing hoardings in CMC limits.

The notices were served to advertising agencies after the civic body's hoarding agreement with Dream Team Shahara (DTS) expired in September last year.

According per the agreement, the civic body had earlier granted the sole advertisement rights to the DTS for a period of three years from 2011 for Rs 1.72 crore.

The chairman of CMC licence-standing committee, Bikash Behera, said out of 128 companies, 88 advertisement firms had received the demand notice while 23 of them have already made part payments.

So far, the corporation has collected Rs 60 lakh from the total outstanding bill amounting to Rs 5.17 crore that is pending against the agencies for the last three financial years.

"The CMC has already blacklisted 40 advertising agencies who have not responded to the demand notice served," said Behera.

Behera said the civic body had already served notices on 54 advertising agencies since their hoardings and billboards were put up without permission. They will be pulled down during the special enforcement drive.

Already, 23 hoardings that came up illegally on the entire stretch of road near Ashwini Hospital in Markatnagar were removed on July 3.

Senior CMC officials said four places in Cuttack would soon be declared as 'no-hoarding zones' in a bid to check unauthorised and illegal hoardings.

According to the plans, the entire stretch from Khatbin Sahi to Chandi Mandir Chhak will become a no-hoarding zone.

Similarly, no hoardings will be allowed from Ashwini Hospital to the new road that connects CDA Sector 10. The corporation has also identified the entire area in and around the Barabati fort as a no-hoarding zone.