In order to increase the income of urban local bodies and penalise violations, the Punjab Local government department on Friday…
Navjot Singh Sidhu (Photo: Facebook)
In order to increase the income of urban local bodies and penalise violations, the Punjab Local government department on Friday released the draft of a comprehensive and uniform ‘Punjab Municipal Outdoor Advertisement Policy and Bye-Laws 2018’.
Disclosing this at a Press meet, Punjab Local government minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said the draft has been readied with a view to accord a uniform look to all the cities and towns of the state. The minister said the new policy will come into force in March for which the suggestions from the public have been invited till 31 January.
The minister said there is need for uniformity as haphazard outdoor advertisements are an eyesore. Sidhu added that the new policy would be broadly based on enacting the laws and implementing them in letter and spirit.
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He made it clear that nobody would be allowed to display advertisements on the rooftops. “Shopkeepers would only be allowed to display a single advertisement per floor on their shops and that too would be of a fixed size. The shopkeepers would be given two month time frame for taking down the earlier boards and display new ones,” he said.
Advertisements to be displayed in public spaces in urban centres would also have to be be of a uniform size. In the earlier Municipal Act, there was provision to remove any illegal advertisement or board, but sans any imposition of penalties, said Sidhu.
He said the new draft would also include amending the Municipal Act, thereby levying hefty penalties as well as entailing imprisonment. As per the draft policy, government officials would submit their compliance report regarding implementation of the policy in their respective areas on a weekly basis.
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