Kochi: Billboards spell danger

Kochi: The placement of billboards on metro pillars at the centre of busy city roads by the metro authorities has come in for sharp criticism, especially from traffic experts who claim it would distract riders and lead to mishaps.

“Hoardings have been put up in blatant violation of the provisions of the Indian Road Congress Code. Such hoardings distract commuters and those driving vehicles, endangering lives of people. The IRC codes have not been amended for metro systems and hence they are bound to follow the same,” said Mr Upendra Narayan, traffic expert and former Road Safety Council member.

However, when contacted a senior Kochi Metro Rail Ltd official said the authorities were  free to exhibit ads at vantage spaces and a provision for this regard was provided in the Metro Rail Act.

“The ad rights were  leased out to a contractor for Rs 5.7 crore. The metro systems could not sustain without additional source of revenues and ads are our primary source. All other metro systems in the country display such ads. Our attempt is to be self-sufficient, otherwise, the system needs government grants every year to sustain itself,” the official said.

Meanwhile, shopkeepers too complain that the bill boards hide the view of the pillar numbers which have now become address indicators.

“The ad boards hide the pillars' numbers and in Pathadipalam, the numbers have gone missing on some of the pillars. Upon an accident, the pillar numbers are used to avail help of services like Fire Force. Steps should be taken to display them such that they can be easily read,” said Pratap Chandran, a shop-owner at Edapally.