The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has lifted last year’s ban on Puja hoardings and banners along EM Bypass, allowing committees and clubs to install the advertisements during the festive season after obtaining municipal permission.
The decision was communicated through an order issued by KMC commissioner Smita Pandey. The order said that “hoardings, banners, and flex advertisements are hereby allowed to be displayed along EM Bypass by the Puja committees and clubs after taking due permission from the” civic authority. The available order extract ends at that point, while the municipal decision has been reported as including safety rules for the permitted displays.
The reversal follows concerns over the impact of large festive advertisements on one of Kolkata’s busiest road corridors. KMC had prohibited such displays along EM Bypass last year after a large hoarding collapsed near Captain Bheri, close to Metropolitan Crossing, in October 2024.
The 30-foot hoarding collapse brought traffic to a halt for almost an hour, according to the report. The incident had intensified concerns over whether large banners and hoardings could be safely installed along the bypass, particularly in locations exposed to traffic movement and roadside activity.
The new arrangement places permission at the centre of the civic corporation’s decision. Puja committees and clubs will not be able to put up the advertisements automatically; they must first secure approval from KMC. The reported safety conditions are intended to govern displays along the corridor, although the supplied order extract does not provide the full list of technical or installation requirements.
EM Bypass is an important east Kolkata transport link, connecting several residential, commercial and institutional areas. Hoardings placed along the route can affect visibility and the roadside environment, while any structural failure can create an immediate obstruction for vehicles using the corridor. The 2024 collapse demonstrated how an advertising structure could disrupt traffic even without a wider road or infrastructure failure.
For Puja organisers, the decision restores an advertising option that had been unavailable along the bypass during the previous festive season. For the municipal corporation, it creates a system in which festive displays can return subject to permissions and safety oversight rather than through an unrestricted lifting of the earlier prohibition.
The decision also leaves implementation important. The effectiveness of the new arrangement will depend on how KMC examines applications, checks the condition and placement of structures, and enforces the permissions issued to committees and clubs. The order marks the policy change, while the detailed safety rules and their application will determine how hoardings are managed on the ground.
