Kerala: Cabinet orders all unsafe hoardings off

Kochi: In a move that seeks to enhance road safety but will adversely impact the thriving outdoor media industry, the government on Wednesday ordered removal of all hoardings, bill boards and signboards that obstructed free flow of traffic or endangered public safety on national highways, state highways and major district roads in the state. 

 

The order, quoting provisions in the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and orders of the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court, asked the owners to remove the hoardings in a week, failing which Steel Industries Kerala Ltd, a public sector undertaking, will take up the job. 

 

It also authorised a sub-committee, headed by principal secretary (personal and administrative reforms) and collectors of Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode and executive secretary to the chief secretary as members, to monitor implementation of the order.  The order, issued by chief secretary Jiji Thomson, directed the district police chiefs/commissioners, the motor vehicles department and the PWD  to extend help to the sub-committee. 

 

The chief secretary told Deccan Chronicle that the order follows strict instructions by the High Court in this regard. “Several cities in India have amended their municipal administration Acts to provide specific locations for displaying hoardings so that traffic is not affected,” he said. “We are also in the process of amending the Act providing  such spaces.”  Mr Thomson said advertisements which distracted drivers’ attention would have to go. “The local bodies will be asked not to give licences for hoardings and bill boards if they came in the way of free flow of traffic,” he said.