Bangalore :In accordance with the earlier notification by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) regarding removal of illegal advertisements put up in the city, the BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana has decided to seek the assistance of groups and individuals to accomplish this task. This would include several Non-Governmental Organizations like the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) among others.

Following the recent High Court order to remove advertisements displayed in places with a public view that flout the norms as per the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, the BBMP has chosen to go all out in implementing the order. The people who have indulged in putting up such illegal advertisements had been given time till the 7th of August to remove the posters, banners and flexes. Henceforth, all illegal advertisements will be removed and cases would be filed against the perpetrators. Special teams have been constituted at the zonal level for the same. The police too have been directed to act tough in this regard.

However the issue with regard to film posters without contact details stuck on walls continues to pose a problem. The commissioner has stated that he will have talks with the MLAs to discuss possibilities of providing legal alternatives to such pasting.

Interestingly, several volunteer organizations have been indulging in the task of clearing the posters and beautifying the city from a long time. In Bangalore, the undisputed leader among them is an anonymous group called The Ugly Indian, who for the past five years have been doing the same job as currently planned by the BBMP. And this movement is not restricted to Bangalore alone. Inspired by the TUI, teams have sprung up in several cities of the country.

Mangalore responds too!

Mangalore too, inspired by the TUI has seen a new movement that goes by the name (or rather the hashtag) #PosterPhaado. The movement has one and only one aim: That of getting the city rid of posters. The organizers of the movement have called forth everyone in the city to get down to business by ripping off illegal posters, banners and flexes in public view, and uploading a picture of the same on their Facebook page, as well as using the hashtag #PosterPhaado.

A volunteer from the Poster Phaado movement in Mangalore said that although the movement has garnered good response, it is saddening that the authorities aren’t taking action on the perpetrators under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfiguration) Act. On the other hand, another volunteer says that the situation in Mangalore is much better, as the people who have advertised such stuff are often unaware that it is illegal, and once the members of Poster Phaado request them to refrain from posting, they agree without retaliating.

The future course

All these initiatives by the Government as well as from the Social Service organization will not yield much fruit unless there is support from the general public and more specifically the advertisers. Awareness is the need of the hour, and action based on that awareness is more necessary than ever!