A month after they were pulled down, the hoardings and unipoles might be back in business in the same manner , without having to adhere to new norms or passing any test. And the reason is that the operators are making losses while a technical committee constituted by the GHMC is yet to start the job of assessing the structural stability or make any recommendations for safety of the citizens.
A gale storm and an incident involving the collapse of a unipole in Banjara Hills was enough for the GHMC to act tough against the operators of these structures last month following which the display boards and posters of 3,000 odd hoardings and unipoles were taken down.
Expert team
The GHMC had announced that a team of engineering experts from the JNTU will conduct a study and submit a report. However, there has not been any progress after that from the GHMC’s side.
Recently, the operators met the GHMC Commissioner and Mayor with a request to let them conduct business.
“The members conveyed that they had to go without revenue for more than one month while paying rent to GHMC. They requested the Commissioner and Mayor to allow them to put up ads as they fear that if the situation continues then they would be at greater loss. The members agreed to abide by any new norms or guidelines that would be put forward by the technical committee in the future,” said a senior official of GHMC.
It will take at least three to six months for the committee to finish the study since the strength of members of the committee is very less when compared to the total structures they have to assess, according to the official.
The GHMC is learnt to be open to let the hoardings and unipoles operate in the coming few days.
