KARACHI: Cantt boards frustrate drive against billboards
By Zaheer Ahmed Khan
KARACHI, Sept 6: While the city district government has banned billboards on main thoroughfares in its limits, the business of billboards is thriving along the same roads in the cantonment board limits in the city.
A visit to major roads would reveal that after the removal of hundreds of billboards on Sharea Faisal and other localities, such as Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Saddar and parts of Clifton, a large number of fresh super billboards have sprung up, posing great threat to the lives of the passersby or vehicles parked around in case of strong winds or rainfall etc.
Last year, a billboard had fallen in Gulistan-i-Jauhar over a parked vehicle injuring the inmates of the car. Earlier, billboards were pulled down along Sharea Faisal by the city government staff on the intervention of city nazim last year, but now over 100 fresh billboards has emerged once again.
These billboards are either located in the cantonment board limits or have been put up on private buildings, and their number is increasing day-by-day.
The Sharea Faisal, which earlier had hundreds of billboards that were obstructing natural beauty as well, is nowadays having billboards along the road, but at some distance in cantonment limits.
Some of the billboards keep on changing company profiles, or advertisements on them are updated from time to time, and the activity of fixing of billboards or replacing advertisements continues with an increased frequency, especially after midnight, with heavy cranes seen on the road busy in the installation of these boards.
The billboards on Sharea Faisal can be seen on three sections on both sides on the road. The first section is located in Karachi Cantonment limits from Mehran Hotel to Gora Qabristan where there is a large number of these hoardings.
The second section falls in the Faisal Cantonment Board limits, from Karsaz to Drigh Road, which has a comparatively less number of billboards, and the third section is Malir Halt, and the income generated from these boards goes to the Malir/Faisal Cantonment Board. At all these places, super billboards have been put up along the road defeating the very purpose of the drive launched by the city nazim.
While the city government had decided not to allow any billboard on cheap rates, the same have been allowed by the cantonment authorities in the city and even on the same thoroughfare for which the city nazim had stated that it would be made hoarding free, pointed out a resident.
The maximum number of 60 billboards along the Sharea Faisal is seen in Karachi Cantonment Board limits, followed by 42 in Faisal Cantonment Board limits while 24 billboards have emerged at high-rises along the road.
Similarly, Pakistan Railways has allowed hanging of a dozen billboards on its land only at the Drigh Road Station limits.
The PIA, too, has allowed certain billboards in its limits near the Natha Khan Bridge. Moreover, the Civil Aviation Authority has allowed a complete range of different sorts of billboards on the route to airport on Sharea Faisal.
It defeats the purpose of any drive, and it seems that there is no consensus among the city authorities on the issue, said experts. The experts have urged the city nazim to raise the issue with the City Council and settle it once and for all, and those violating the writ of the city government should be penalised.
In the past several years, dangling billboards had fallen on citizens, especially during rains and storms, and a large number of citizens had demanded that there should be standardisation of billboards and the faulty ones should not be allowed at any cost.
A few days back, while traffic was flowing on Sharea Faisal, a private party was seen repairing a billboard on a pedestrian bridge on Sharea Faisal. The sparks generated by welding works could have resulted in an untoward incident had any oil tanker passed through the site.
The safety aspect should also be kept in mind while allowing work by these private contractors, said a motorist.
A city government official said that a policy was likely to be finalised soon regarding the size and structure of the billboards so that these may not pose threat to the life or property of citizens.
