Notice to 24 firms for illegal outdoor ads

Yamunanagar, June 13

Several companies have allegedly displayed their outdoor media advertisements illegally at various locations in the jurisdiction of the Yamunanagar-Jagadhri MC.

Mrinal Jaiswal, Engineer, Yamunanagar-Jagadhri MC, said they had issued show-cause notices to 24 companies between May 17 and June 10.

The companies have reportedly put up their advertisements on hoarding structures and building boards without taking permission from the MC, causing a huge revenue loss to the state exchequer.

It is alleged that this illegal business continued from April 2018 to April 2021 as, during this period, no tender was issued in this connection. Now, the MC authorities have reportedly started the process of calling tender.

Panchkula resident Ashok Kumar, who also deals in the trade of outdoor media advertisement, had lodged a complaint on the CM Window on May 28 against the MC and companies that displayed outdoor media advertisements illegally in the jurisdiction of Yamunanagar-Jagadhri MC.

He had lodged a complaint on May 10 with the higher authorities of the Local Urban Bodies Department, but no action was taken. In his CM Window complaint, he alleged that several companies were displaying outdoor media advertisements illegally without taking permission and without paying fee to the MC.

“As per the provisions of the advertisement bylaws notified by the state on March 28, 2018 and further fee notified on May 21, 2019, the loss of revenue to the MC is about Rs 50 crore in the past three years,” alleged Ashok.

He said the MC had issued notices to only a few companies to save their skin, but the recovery amount wasn’t mentioned on it. Alleging that there were around 80 such companies, he demanded that the state government should get a vigilance probe conducted into this case. — TNS