The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has made its permission mandatory for Durga Puja hoardings, banners and flex boards on city roads, introducing deadlines and structural limits aimed at controlling temporary advertising around festival venues.
According to the municipal information reported by Sangbad Pratidin, Puja organisers must apply to the KMC’s advertising department between 20 and 25 September. Applications will be accepted from 10 am to 5 pm. Organisers will need the civic body’s consent before installing hoardings or other advertising materials on public roads.
The KMC has also fixed the installation window. No hoarding, flex or banner may be put up before 3 October, while all Puja-related hoardings must be removed by 29 October. The reported rules are intended to prevent temporary structures and advertisements from remaining on streets after the festival has ended.
The civic body has prescribed a maximum height of 22 feet for temporary bamboo gates used for advertising. Organisers must also ensure that hoardings, banners and flex boards do not obstruct existing permanent hoardings, streetlights or passenger shelters. The proposed size of every banner or hoarding must be specified in the application submitted to the municipality.
Approved advertising structures will have to display the KMC permission ID, the name of the Puja committee and the advertiser’s name and phone number. The identification requirement creates a direct link between the temporary structure, the event organiser, the advertiser and the civic approval under which it has been installed.
The move addresses a recurring public-space management problem during Kolkata’s Durga Puja season. Large Puja venues often use bamboo frameworks and temporary gates along adjoining roads to carry banners and advertisements. Until now, the duration for which such structures could remain in place reportedly did not require municipal permission, allowing some advertising frameworks to stay on roads even after the festival had concluded.
The rules also place responsibility on organisers to account for the effect of advertising installations on existing street infrastructure. Hoardings that block streetlights, passenger shelters or other permanent advertising structures could affect visibility, pedestrian movement and the functioning of public amenities, although the report does not specify a separate clearance process for each of these facilities.
The KMC has warned that violations will invite legal action. The reported announcement does not specify the nature or scale of the penalties, nor does it identify the number of applications expected to be received. For this year’s Puja advertising, the immediate milestones are the 20–25 September application period, the 3 October start date for installations and the 29 October removal deadline.
