Bhubaneswar: With the city getting a fresh coat of paint ahead Men’s Hockey World Cup in January next year, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to declutter the skyline by removing large hoardings from 32 major junctions.
In a meeting held under the chairmanship of BMC’s additional commissioner Binay Kumar Dash on Tuesday, the agencies, having hoardings in a 50-metre radius at different squares and rooftops, were asked to remove those within 7 to 10 days to facilitate the beautification drive. “Removal of hoardings will help de-clutter the city and decongest the roads,” he said.
A private party has also been engaged to ensure that the exercise is completed by this month-end.
Notably, a study was conducted earlier to identify areas facing traffic snarls because of hoardings and it found that more than 100 hoardings needed to be pulled down. “Hoardings that didn’t figure in the survey but later appeared as eyesore will also be removed,” Dash said.
Sanitary inspectors have been asked to identify spots, footpaths and medians where such hoardings have been put up. Banners pasted on walls have mostly been removed to pave way for theme-based wall painting
In August, the BMC decided to act against disorderly installation of hoardings, billboards and other advertisement materials to improve the capital’s look. A standard operating procedure, prohibiting advertisement materials like hoardings, banners, signboards and direction boards from being installed in trees, poles and walls, was issued a month later.
