The shopkeepers would only be allowed to display a single advertisement per floor on their shops and that too would be of a fixed size.
As per The draft of a comprehensive and uniform ‘Punjab Municipal Outdoor Advertisement Policy and Bye-Laws 2018’ readied by the Local Government Department with a view to accord a uniform look to all the cities/towns of Punjab as well as making the Urban Local Bodies self sufficient from economic point of view.
The department has invited suggestions from the public to make the draft policy more effective. Any resident of Punjab can send his/her suggestions on email-[email protected] till 31st January, 2018 by viewing the draft of the policy uploaded on the departmental website www.lgpunjab.gov.in.”
Local Government Minister, Punjab,Navjot Singh Sidhu said that the department would incorporate the feedback/suggestions received till 31st January and finalize the comprehensive and effective advertisement policy which would be implemented from the month of March this year by all means.
The minister further said that the main aim of framing the advertisement policy is to increase the income of the Urban Local Bodies and penalize the violators through stringent laws. Apart from this, it is aimed to make a uniform policy for giving a beautified look to the cities and accord uniformity to all the haphazard outdoor advertisements acting as eyesore thus damaging the look of cities/urban centres. Stating that the need to frame a new policy arose from the ineffectiveness of the earlier advertisement policy which was sans any provision to levy any punishment or penalty on the violators, Mr. Sidhu added that the new policy would be broadly based on enacting the laws and implementing them in letter and spirit.
The minister said that nobody would be allowed to display advertisements on the rooftops. The shopkeepers would be given 2 months timeframe for taking down the earlier boards and display new ones. Besides this, the advertisements to be displayed on the spaces in the urban centres would also be of same size. In the earlier Municipal Act, there was provision to remove any illegal advertisement or board but sans any imposition of penalties. So, the new draft would also include amending the Municipal Act thereby levying hefty penalties as well as entailing imprisonment.
The police barricades would also display the advertisements of the licensed and approved company regarding which the action taken report would be sent by the respective Police Commissioners/SSPs to the Director Local Government every month. The information would contain the number of advertisements, type, size, name of the advertising agency with contact number and the duration of advertisement displayed. The same information would also need to be compulsorily given on the advertisement hoarding.
The minister also said that any state resident can complain with regard to any violator of the advertisement policy on the helpline number and website of the department. The draft also carries the proposal that no blacklisted company or the one banned by any of the state governments can participate in the bid to display advertisements.
