City skyline gets 'clean' look, but GHMC counts its losses

Hyderabad: Within a week, the city skyline has witnessed a prominent change. Gone are the large colourful billboards screaming ads and news of movie releases. In its place are left mere metallic skeletons or blank hoarding boards. And while citizens are smiling at the welcome change, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) may soon be in the red due to this.
It was after last week's rain and high speed wind that the GHMC issued a diktat to remove all advertising material. The precautionary measure came after several billboards toppled in the gales. The biggest damage was caused when a unipole near Jubilee Hills checkpost collapsed, squishing as many as eight parked cars.
With many ads now gone, Hyderabadis are finding the change in view a much-needed relief. "The city skyline was earlier bombarded with a large number of posters and advertisements. We hope that the GHMC continues to keep it this way," said Ramesh Reddy, a resident of Bagh Lingampally.
However, GHMC officials are worried about the lakhs of rupees it stands to lose in terms of advertising revenue and property tax.
According to senior civic officials, there are 2,620 hoardings and unipoles spread across the city, which helps the corporation earn as much as Rs 3 crore on a weekly basis.
"Roughly 50% of them were asked to remove advertisements and flexis by the commissioner because the weather was not conducive and many of the posters were torn apart during the squall. These hoardings were also posing a threat to motorists and pedestrians," said S A Basha, advertisement officer, GHMC. Hundreds of banners were torn apart in the last major rainfall that lashed the city on May 20.
Taking cognisance of the situation, mayor Bonthu Rammohan had ordered the GHMC staffers to remove all unauthorised flexis, banners and hoardings. He also asked for an expert committee to be set up, including technical experts from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad (JNTUH) to verify the structural stability of these hoardings.
"Many of these billboards are old and extremely vulnerable to such rains and winds," said a senior engineering official of the GHMC.
Members of advertising agencies association, who pay rent for the hoardings, also confirmed that they were asked to pull them down over fears of structural instability. "Most of the hoardings are in places such as Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Madhapur and Hi-Tec City. We have to pay a minimum rent of Rs 30,000 to the building owner every day for the hoarding. We were asked to remove all of them, which will ultimately dent the GHMC's coffers," said MM Raju, a member of the advertising agencies association.