GHMC earned over Rs. 97 cr from hoardings in past five years: RTI

The RTI was filed by Kareem Ansari, a member of yourti.in.

The GHMC said it collected a revenue of Rs. 80.18 crores from hoardings and unipoles. It also said that it earned Rs. 26.26 crores from hoardings, the highest earning, in 2017-18, followed by Rs. 20.68 crores in 2018-19, Rs. 18.44 crores in 2019-20, and Rs. 14.80 crores in 2016-17.

In 2020-21, the local body did not earn any revenue from hoarding after the government issued an order in April 2020 saying name board is permitted per commercial establishment and subject to a maximum size of 19ftX5ft. It had also said that rooftop hoardings and any advertisement structures above 15ft from ground level would not be permitted.

Also, in the last five years the urban local body has earned Rs. 17.34 crores from neon and glow signboards. In 2019-20 it earned around Rs. 4.33 crores, the highest revenue, followed by Rs. 4.26 crores in 2016-17, Rs. 4.19 crores in 2018-19, and Rs. 4.01 crores in 2017-18.

In 2020-21, the GHMC earned only Rs. 0.43 crores from neon and glow signboard advertising.

According to the directorate of EV&DM, after April 2020, erecting advertisements, displaying painted advertisements, use of flashing lights or non-static illumination in advertisements, flouting rules regarding the size of advertisements or name boards exceeding 15 per cent of the frontage of the building, use of moving, rotating, or variable message advertising devices.

Operating an advertisement element without the valid structural stability certificate, placing an advertisement on any additional board, structure, or projection on the body of a vehicle, and use of illuminated advertisements with brightness more than the allowed limit without any written permission from the authority concerned are offences under the GHMC Act.

Earlier, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has revealed that its Enforcement and Vigilance wing(EVDM) has slapped hefty fines against illegal advertisement amounting Rs. 46,19,54,300 from 13 March 2018 to 19 September 2020. The total amount collected through fines and challans amounted to Rs. 2,36,32,100 for the same period. The GHMC also revealed that after imposing a penalty on the establishments for erecting banners, the DRF teams removed the illegal advertisements.

The amount which is collected by the Enforcement and Vigilance Wing of the GHMC is transferred to the accounts of the GHMC commissioner at the end of every month.