No hoardings above 15 feet within GHMC, says RTI

Hyderabad: An RTI reply revealed that there are no big hoardings erected within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. All hoardings are within the height permitted under the GHMC rules.

All the advertisement elements above 15 feet have been banned as per GO No 68 (issued in April 2020). Permissions will be granted only for hoardings that are below 15 ft across GHMC limits and no rooftop billboards are allowed.

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

The GHMC said it earned a revenue of Rs 125.47 crores from the bigger-sized hoardings under its ambit. It also said it earned Rs 28.04 crores from big hoardings, the highest earning in 2015-16, followed by Rs 26.26 crores in 2017-18, Rs 20.68 crores in 2018-19, Rs 18.84 crores in 2019-2020, Rs 17.75 crores in 2014-15 and Rs 14.3 crores in 2016-17.

Why were big billboards banned?

The GHMC earnings from the billboards were due to allowing them up to 15 feet. They were banned in 2020 after multiple incidents of huge billboards falling, especially during heavy rains and in some cases causing serious injuries and deaths. These billboards were also certified safe by their respective city administration.

From 2020-21 to till date, the GHMC did not earn any revenue from hoardings after the government issued an order in April 2020 and banned hoardings that are above 15 feet banners. However, the GHMC did not provide details of the number of complaints it received from the general public on big hoardings. They also did not have a record of the number of complaints they had attended to and solved from 2014 till date.