‘Bandra can’t claim to be a core area’

Interview with additional municipal commissioner, R A Rajeev

Can south Mumbaikars dream of a hoarding-free city by March 2008? Is it a realistic deadline?
It is. The hoarding owners feel that March 31 is too short a time. They want more time to get back their returns on that. According to my information, they will need only 2-3 months to get their returns back and there’s sufficient time given to correct themselves and earn. So no amortisation further than March 31, 2008 is required.

What research and effort has gone into the making of new policy guidelines?
We have tried to draw from international practices. There is also no harm in learning from lesser cities. There is a ban on hoarding in core city areas in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

There’s a technology being used for sky-signs on advertising boards to make cities look sleeker and smarter, and we wish to bring this concept in our city. In the present scenario, the present legal system on granting permissions for hoardings has proved insufficient.

We have framed the guidelines as per economist Perato’s theory which puts a check on malpractices like revenue stealing and clubbing of hoardings. Frames will be a permanent fixture to prevent stealing of revenue as advertisers cannot keep investing in frames every time. So not a single billboard will be allowed without frames from now on.

Mumbai Hoarding Owner’s Association opines the ban on hoardings in south  Mumbai is unjust
MHOA should have no cause for complaints. The total turnover of the hoarding industry is Rs500 crore and they give Rs60 crore to the BMC.

Suburban residents are miffed with the preferential treatment
Suburbs have just one or two heritage structures and don’t qualify to be a core area like south Mumbai. Places like Bandra cannot compare with a core city and the same law isn’t applicable there. T

he suburbs can draw solace from the clause that insists on a distance of 25 metres (instead of the earlier 5 metres) between two hoardings.

We are also restricting the sizes. On one road, only one size will be permitted. There’s a need for advertising through sky-signs and billboards. So it isn’t possible and practical to ban hoardings in the whole of Mumbai.

Why weren’t political hoardings included in the new policy guidelines?
Political hoardings and banners fall under the purview of a separate resolution. We do need to improve them, but this will not be done in the new policy.

MHOA alleges that the new policy will deprive 10,000 families of painters, hoarding mounters, media owners and advertisers of their livelihood?
This argument is baseless. We are not reducing a single square inch of advertisements. Neon signs will increase in Mumbai after the policy guidelines are implemented. So there will be jobs for more than 10,000 families.