Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday admitted that a “mafia” involving officials and elected representatives is responsible for the presence of illegal hoardings despite the High Court severely chastising BBMP officials.
Replying to a question by BJP MLC Y.A. Narayanaswamy, the Chief Minister said bylaws on hoardings framed in 2006 are “toothless” and the government is contemplating a new policy to strictly monitor advertisements.
When Mr. Narayanaswamy claimed that there were over 21,000 illegal hoardings in the city, officials admitted to only 1,156. The Chief Minister agreed that the real number could be much more than the official figures. He said many were preventing officials from taking action by claiming that there is an Original Suit related to the hoarding pending in court.
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The BJP MLC went on to say that while BBMP is earning no more than Rs. 35 crore annually from hoardings, the amount would have been 10-fold if every hoarding in the city is taken into account.
In September, 2014, the High Court of Karnataka had asked BBMP officials why criminal cases were not booked against those illegally putting up banners, hoardings and posters.