PESHAWAR, Jan 15: The campaign against cinema houses by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government has been depriving many people of their income, people affected by the campaign told Dawn on Wednesday.

“The ban on displaying of billboards in front of cinema halls by the MMA’s government has terribly affected our business, because we are receiving a very few orders for painting signboards from the cinema-owners,” said, a painter.

According to him, previously, they painted billboards for the cinema houses for every new film, which they exhibited in front of the cinema halls.

The MMA government has launched campaign against cinema houses in the city, following public complaints that most of them were involved in screening porno movies. Now, they have been ordered by the police to display signboards, depicting only the names and artistes of the given film. There is a complete ban on the signboards, showing the pictures of women artistes.

“The cinema-owners are now making the signboards themselves. They just write the names of film and stars appearing in with a marker. They do not need our services any more,” said the painter, who also said that he used to paint half a dozen billboards per week for different cinemas in the city.

Similarly, the printing press owners also have complained about losing some business due to the ban.

The cinema-houses got printed new posters for every new film, they showed. Every cinema house had to print thousands of posters which were pasted elsewhere in the city on walls to attract the viewers.

“Since the campaign against the cinema houses by the government, we have not received any order for the posters,” said Amjad, who owns a printing machine at Mohallah Jangi, Qissakhawani bazaar. According to him, they weren’t entirely dependent on the cinema halls for their business, but still had incurred losses in terms of their income.