KARACHI: With five days left in a deadline set by the Supreme Court to remove all ‘dangerous’ billboards and signboards in the city, the various land controlling agencies in Karachi have yet to remove thousands of giant iron structures installed on pavements and busy thoroughfares.

The city may have more hoardings and signboards than it has trees, which are quite often chopped off to make way for more billboards. That’s the reality of urban life of Karachi where advertisements are placed to lure customers for all kinds of things from mobile phones, clothes, food, detergent, engine oil and whatnot through these signboards.

Though not strikingly noticeable as yet, there is some change in the city landscape with the Supreme Court ordering all such advertising encroaching footpaths — and even roads — and obstructing people, especially drivers’ view, removed by Aug 26. Following the directive there has been a drive to remove the advertising.

However, there was confusion between the various civic agencies about whose hoardings and signboards they actually are and who put them there.

“We have taken down some 2,800 outdoor advertisements by now and are busy removing the others as well,” a spokesman of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation told Dawn on Friday.

However, the KMC official pointed out that even though they were responsible for a bigger portion of the city, they could not be held accountable for all the hoardings and signboards there. “We have 33 per cent of Karachi but there are other areas, too, that fall under other authorities such as the Faisal, Malir, Korangi and Clifton cantonments, Defence Housing Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan Coast Guards, the Karachi Port Trust, Railways, etc.,” he said. “For instance, Sharea Faisal is full of such outdoor advertising and they don’t fall under us,” he added.

It was also said that there wasn’t one kind of billboard. “Some are big, some small. But not all are coming down as we have been told to only take down the ones that are proving dangerous and encroaching on footpaths, pavements and roads. Some that are in danger of falling down are also being removed as are the ones that have fallen behind on their payments,” he shared.

DHA Public Relations Officer retired Major Aurangzeb Unar said they would do as ordered by the Supreme Court, but they didn’t have so many signboards to begin with anyway. “There are a few odd boards here and there that may not fulfil the guidelines for billboards, which will come off, of course,” he said. “But the rest that you may see in DHA are not our doing. Please speak to the cantonment or agency responsible for them,” he added.

Meanwhile, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui held a meeting with all the authorities involved regarding this matter. “We are not being too harsh as we understand the role of these billboards in promoting businesses, generating revenue, helping people earn livelihoods, etc., but KMC’s by-laws should be respected, too.

“If something is a cause for danger it cannot be permitted. It is good that nothing has happened so far but that doesn’t mean that nothing would happen in the future too so taking precautions and removing these is the right thing to do. The pavements and footpaths are for pedestrians to walk on and not for billboards while people manoeuvre around them or get on the roads to avoid crashing into them.”

It is true that many of the boards, especially those covering footpaths, have already been removed. In their place now remain only the remnants of small square metal base with the rusting rivets sticking out. One wonders if they have been left there as seedlings from where the ‘metal tree’ in the concrete jungle may be allowed to grow again.

“Well, that remains to be seen. Right now we are all removing them but you never know if someone may try to bring them back after things blow over. There is a tug of war where money is concerned and these hoardings generate revenue of course,” said an official requesting anonymity. Asked then who would win the tug of war in the end, he smiled and said: “Pressure from the citizens concerned who file petitions and the Supreme Court, of course.”

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2015

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