The State government has scrapped the notification on the new advertisement rules that paved the way for commercial hoardings to make a comeback in the city. An order was issued to this effect on September 14.
The notification on the new advertisement rules was issued on July 26 to replace the BBMP Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Bylaws, 2018, under which there was a blanket ban on commercial hoardings across the city.
At a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, several city Ministers had expressed concern over allowing the hoardings to return marring the city’s aesthetics. They had also pointed out that the new bylaws would favour the advertisement mafia.
This is not the first attempt to bring back commercial hoardings. Since 2018, advertisement hoardings have been banned in the city. The BBMP council then had passed a resolution to this effect after being pulled up by the High Court of Karnataka. However, in 2019, the Urban Development Department published the draft BBMP Advertisement Rules, 2019. The BBMP council passed a resolution opposing the draft rules.
Months after the term of the BBMP council ended, the previous government, headed by BJP leader B.S. Yeddiyurappa, approved the new bylaws. Incidentally, the notification was issued on July 26, days before Mr. Yeddiyurappa stepped down as Chief Minister.
However, several within the BJP were opposed to this. The party, in fact, had in its election manifesto supported the ban on all hoardings. Meanwhile, the high court is still hearing a PIL on advertisement hoardings.
