Deadline approaches: District South moves to remove billboards, several continue to dot skyline

SC gave a final deadline of three days to all the civic agencies, including the administrators of all DMCs

KARACHI: District South seems to have made efforts to follow the Supreme Court (SC) orders to remove billboards on public properties but several hoardings continue to line the streets.

The South District Municipal Corporation has sped up its drive to remove billboards but Korangi Road, Sharae Faisal and several roads in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) are still lined with outdoor hoardings.

On Friday, the SC gave a final deadline of three days to all the civic agencies, including the administrators of all district municipal corporations (DMCs) and the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the cantonment boards, and warned that contempt charges will be framed against them if hoardings are still found in their respective jurisdictions. On July 14, the apex court had already granted an additional week to all the civic bodies to take down illegal billboards as the original deadline set by it expired on June 30.

According to South DMC administrator Muhammad Naeem, they had 192 billboards on public property, which have all been removed. There were 10 billboards on private property, which were protruding onto the road and have been removed, he pointed out. Naeem added that there were a few billboards owned by Pakistan Railways that were in their jurisdiction so they got rid of them as well.



Beyond South DMC, District South also includes areas that fall under the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board Karachi (CBK) and Cantonment Board Clifton, which are also swinging into action as the SC deadline nears. There were 106 billboards on public property within CBK and all of them have been removed, claimed CBK's billboard in-charge, who requested anonymity. The ones that continue to line Sharae Faisal fall under the army's jurisdiction, he pointed out, adding that they are in the process of removing these.

The two huge hoardings, which still occupy the public space near FTC Flyover, the official said that they belonged to Pakistan Railways and its officials should step up to remove them. For his part, Pakistan Railways division officer Muhammad Nasir denied having any billboards on public property. The respective municipality in the district gives permission to install any billboard on the land, he said, adding that CBK is supposed to remove the giant billboards near FTC Flyover. As for the billboards on Korangi Road and parts of DHA, CBC hoarding in-charge Faisal Jadoon insisted they were not located on public property. This proved false during a visit to Korangi Road, where several billboards are clearly encroaching footpaths. Jadoon also denied there were any billboards on public property within DHA.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2016.