GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu has directed all the 2,684 owners of / agencies operating hoardings under GHMC limits to submit their structural designs along with their structural stability certificates, within seven days.
At the onset of the monsoon season and after the collapse of 3 hoardings in Hyderabad, the Commissioner held a review meeting with the engineer-in-chief and officials of the advertisement wing, in his chambers today.
The Commissioner said that the GHMC would get the details furnished by the agencies cross-checked by independent agencies such as JNTU and Osmania University, and draw conclusions regarding the stability of the hoardings.
The GHMC Commissioner directed the deputy commissioners of Circles 8 and 9 to issue notices to Prakash Arts (which owns 2 hoardings in Nizam College grounds) and Venkateswara Advertisement (which owns 1 hoarding in Himayat Nagar), whose hoardings had collapsed yesterday, asking why action should not be initiated on them by blacklisting them.
Also he ordered that notices be sent to structural engineers M/s Becon Consultancy and M/s Builders & Planners, and asked why a criminal case should not be booked against them for issuing false stability certificates for the above hoardings.
He further directed the engineer-in-chief to get structural designs and stability of the 3 collapsed hoardings verified within five days.
The Commissioner also said that GHMC does not allow hoardings to be shifted to nearby areas on account of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project.
Hoardings shifted to locations other than those they are authorized to stand on will be considered unauthorized, he said.
Krishna Babu directed the officials concerned to list out such hoardings and their agencies. He also said that he would hold a review meeting on June 3 with the municipal standing counsel, to discuss the court cases pertaining to the advertisement wing. (INN)