Hoardings on buildings under GHMC scanner

Hyderabad: Those with apartments which  have advertising hoardings on top, must check if the advertisement has the approval of GHMC and if the license has been renewed. Those living under hoardings whose licenses have expired or have been installed illegally, can face punishment in terms of hefty fine amounts.

The GHMC cracked down on 300 plus illegal hoardings so far, and the drive will continue before the start of monsoons. Also the major advertising companies have a few weeks to have their hoarding structures examined by the experts.

“So far 330 illegal structures have been identified and removed, which is a small number… however, the drive will continue. Another issue is non-renewal of the hoarding fee.

“There are thousands of companies, even those who have their ads on residential buildings, who have not paid their annual fees. Many have crossed the March 30th deadline.”

“In this case, the department will first issue a notice to renew the license, if there is still no compliance the structures will be pulled down, along with a hefty fine,” said a senior officer from GHMC.

It should be recalled that in 2016, a massive ‘unipole’ at Jubilee Hills caused death on the road, as its structure was weak and had come crashing down.  

“All advertisement agencies have to ensure that the hoardings, unipoles, installed by them should be stable and safe in all aspects. The companies must conduct structural stability and verification of design and drawings including the errection, and this should be certified by a third party agency before any advertisement is put up on the building,” said Mr N.V. Ramana Rao, Professor civil engineering, JNTU said.