‘Illegal’ Hoardings Safety Ignored?

Advertisements are everywhere. Offline advertisements, such as billboards, hoardings, banners, etc., still dominate the market, even though digitisation has made deep inroads into our social fabric. Thanks to this domination, our cities are decked with illegal, oversized hoardings that tarnish the visual appeal of our cities and also endanger the lives of the general public.

The power of banners, hoardings, and billboards to influence public opinion has been well recognised. Political parties too harness this influencing power, so during elections, rallies, or any other important event, city roads are first to deck with posters and banners to attract voters in favour of their candidate.

Although this mode of advertisement may be a boon for some, when these advertisements go beyond the policy norms, they become a headache for the local bodies as illegal hoardings disrupt the traffic. Some advertisements go to exorbitant lengths to make themselves visible to the public, risking their safety and security, like the billboard erected at a petrol pump in Ghatkopar.

Ghatkopar story

The Ghatkopar East billboard tragedy is the latest addition to the line of events exposing the safety hazards of oversized billboards and hoardings. The billboard erected at the petrol pump had dimensions of 120×120 feet, nine times that of the prescribed 40×40 size. When it collapsed, it trapped people under its humongous frame, injuring over 70 people and killing 17. Several questions arise in its aftermath. Was this billboard erected legally? If not, why was it not taken down by the local authorities? If it was built legally, then on what grounds was permission granted? It becomes imperative for us to understand the legal mechanism regarding the approval, safety standards, and monitoring of public advertisements displayed in Indian cities.

In light of these parameters, we can try to wrap our heads around the procedure of the municipal bodies across the country, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), in granting permission. If the corporation can earn money from hoarding fees, how can they allow illegal hoarding for which they will not get any fees? If they are doing proper monitoring of the safety norms, then how did thousands of illegal and dangerous hoardings and billboards exist right under the noses of the authorities?

Permission process

The process to seek approval for exhibiting a banner, hoarding, or billboard is outlined in the advertising policies of cities. In Mumbai, the Greater Mumbai Policy Guidelines for Display of Advertisements 2018 delineate the process of obtaining permission for putting up different categories of public advertisement in the city. For instance, to put up illuminated digital hoardings, it is essential to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic). If any change, whether in size, height, positioning, or even structural change, makes the NOC invalid.

Similarly, the Delhi Outdoor Advertising Policy 2017(i) mandates that if anyone (individuals or agencies) wants to put up billboards or hoardings, they shall have prior permission from the Commissioner, an essential criterion to display any advertisement in public.

The policy further states that outdoor advertisement devices that fall under the territorial jurisdiction of the municipal corporation shall be governed by sections 143 to 146 and 430 of the Delhi Municipal
Corporation Act.

Since advertising has become a lucrative business, many private agencies have emerged in cities to take advantage of it. To regulate these private agencies, the Delhi Outdoor Policy says, “No person except licensed or registered advertisers or agencies is allowed to undertake the display of advertisements on behalf of others.” As per the rules, all advertising agencies shall have to register themselves with the corporation and furnish documents and information as may be called upon by the chairman or commissioner.

Safety norms

Following the permission process, the question comes to mind: what conditions need to be satisfied to grant permission to advertise in public? Regarding this, most cities, like Delhi and Mumbai, have framed their own sets of safety norms. For example, the Delhi Outdoor Advertising Policy 2017 was introduced with specific objectives, such as “to discourage visual clutter,” ensuring that the advertisements do not disrupt the smooth flow of traffic, and affect the aesthetics of the city.The safety parameters outlined in the policy regarding outdoor advertising state that elevated billboards or hoardings on roads with less than 100 feet in width cannot be greater than 20×10 feet, and on roads with more than 100 feet in width, the permissible limit is 30×15 feet. They should have a ground clearance limit of 8 feet.

Similarly, the maximum permissible dimensions for putting hoardings or billboards on railway bridges, flyover bridges, and foot-over bridges are approximately 60×10 feet (converted from metres). LED, LCD screens, and ground-mounted hoardings cannot be bigger than 30×15 feet, and their maximum height can only be 45 feet. Apart from that, the minimum gap between an advertisement on highways and city roads cannot be less than 100 metres.

Additionally, the framework also prescribes guidelines regarding the supporting infrastructure. It states that the supporting structure should not have a reflective finish, as its glare could hamper the driver’s vision. It shall comply with the colour scheme if any is in place, and road furniture, including the official signage and lamp posts, shall not be used as supporting structures. Apart from that, details of license holders shall also be mentioned on the display board.

These norms form the bedrock on which the designated authority, that is, the Municipal Commissioner in the case of corporations, grants permission to individuals or agencies to advertise at a designated place for a predetermined period and the manner of advertisement, like a billboard, hoarding, or digital screen, for which the approval has been given. These guidelines also help in determining the legality of a public advertisement.

Lack of monitoring

When there is a defined mechanism to ensure the legality and safety standards of advertising, why does not the local body take these down? The answer to that question lies in Section 143 of the Delhi Municipal Act, which empowers the municipal corporation to inspect, remove, or prohibit all unauthorised or illegal advertisements. Under sections 146 and 461 of the Act, the corporation can direct the owner or agency to remove or dismantle the hoarding or whatever it is, or it can take it upon itself to do the same.

However, there seems to be no effective monitoring of the implementation of all these provisions, and the existence of such a large number of illegal advertisement boards not just in Delhi but across the municipal bodies across India seems to vouch for this rationale.

The Ghatkopar billboard exemplifies this lack of monitoring. As per the Greater Mumbai Policy Guidelines for Display of Advertisements 2018, the maximum permissible limit of hoardings on the ground is 40×40 feet. However, the signage that fell on the busy petrol pump was measured at 120×120, nine times larger than the permissible limit. This was not the only hoarding erected by Ego Media Pvt Ltd. They installed two hoardings of the same dimensions, one in Ghatkopar East that fell and trapped 100 people, and the other one in Pant Nagar.

It is hard to comprehend how the advertising hoarding of such dimensions can be overlooked by BMC, knowing that the advertising agency has applied for the Limca Book of Records to declare it the largest commercial hoarding in India.

The same goes for the rest of the corporations in India, who have just woken from their deep slumber after the clamour of the Ghatkopar tragedy. Amdavad Municipal Corporation has just ordered a structural audit of over 2000 hoardings in its jurisdiction. Udaipur Municipal Corporation has also started to crack down on illegal hoarding.

In Gurugram, city residents took the matter into their own hands when the corporation did not respond to their repeated complaints. Members of the resident welfare association removed nearly 400 illegal hoardings from a five-kilometre stretch starting from Vatika Chowk and Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), which were marring the green belt and leading to accidents at night.

Delhi has been a step ahead in removing the banner as the corporation started the war against the illegal display of advertisements. As per the official statement, the civic body has removed nearly 50,000 illegal advertisements, consisting of 33487 posters and 7601 hoardings, from across 12 zones just before the model code of conduct comes into force.

Revenue loss

The increased number of illegal hoardings not only enhances risk to human lives or defaces aesthetic beauty, but they also mean the loss of revenue to our civic bodies. For instance, it has been reported that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s estimated income in the financial year 2022–23 stood at over
200 crore from advertisement hoarding fees and 2.6 crore from advertisement hoarding fees from MMRDA and MSRDC. It is not the only corporation that earned a significant from advertisement fees.

In an RTI (Right to Information) reply filed by a member of yourti.in, Karim Ansari, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has informed that it earned `97.42 crore from April 2016 to December 2020 as advertisement revenue. Licencing fee and advertisement tax are crucial sources of revenue for the corporations.

Even the government or other organisations that advertise on their premises share a predetermined percentage of revenue with the local body. For instance, the Delhi Outdoor Advertisement Policy delineates that the Northern Railway shall provide 25 per cent of advertisement revenue earned in the national capital. On the other hand, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will provide 35 per cent of its advertising revenue, while other organisations will provide 50 per cent.

Strict compliance needed

Civic bodies must stop illegal hoardings. In India, corporations and municipalities need to act promptly and ensure strict safety standards are followed not only when granting permission for public advertising but also afterward. Agencies often get approval for small billboards but put up larger ones, saving money while causing a revenue loss for the corporation. This negligence contributes to accidents like the Ghatkopar tragedy. If corporations acted decisively against illegal hoardings, such incidents could be prevented.

However, most local bodies cannot take it upon themselves to dismantle these illegal advertisement boards as the cost of doing that is quite significant. Analysing the budget of the Greater Chennai Municipal Corporation for 2024-25 tells us that the corporation earned 1.25 crore from the hoarding fee and penalty, while the removal of hoardings cost 50 lakhs to the civic body. So, the rules should be amended to make the owner liable for removing the hoarding when approval for the same expires and the owner does not want to renew it. At the same time, local bodies should also be made accountable to ensure the effective implementation of this, along with existing legal mechanisms to tackle the problem of illegal public advertisements.

ULBs cannot take it upon themselves to dismantle these illegal advertisement boards as it’s quite costly. Analysing the budget of GCC for 2024-25 tells us that the corporation earned ₹1.25 cr from the hoarding fee and penalty, while the removal costed ₹50 Lakhs.