Chennai’s Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is facing significant challenges in its ongoing campaign to eradicate illegal hoardings.
While the GCC has successfully removed the flex advertisements, it has left the steel structures intact, creating potential safety hazards. This incomplete approach allows advertisers to replace the advertisements once the officials have departed, undermining the efforts to enforce regulations.
“We don’t have welders within the GCC. In some cases, when we tear off the banner, the advertiser either has a court stay or threatens to go to court. So, the staff leave after bringing down the advertisement. Soon, we will bring in full-time contractors who can deploy welders to dismantle these structures,” a GCC official explained. Official records indicate that over 400 illegal hoardings have been removed since 2023. However, in prominent areas such as Anna Nagar Roundabout, Nelson Manickam Road in Choolaimedu, Usman Road in T Nagar, Gemini, and East Coast Road, the steel frames remain, posing significant risks.
As per Rule 320(b) of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Body Rules, 2023, each hoarding must have a structural stability certificate from a Grade I structural engineer registered with the GCC. Yet, none of the approximately 1,000 illegal hoardings erected on tall buildings have such certification. The regulations require building owners to remove illegal hoardings, failing which the GCC is obligated to remove them and penalise the owners. Despite a 2018 ban on hoardings and banners on private buildings, which was overturned by the Madras High Court in 2020, the GCC has yet to issue licences for hoardings, leaving many structures unregulated.
An additional GCC official highlighted the need for more workforce from the state to address the issue comprehensively. “Next, they must regularise hoardings as per rules with structural engineering tests for buildings and soil tests for hoardings on the ground,” the official suggested. Experts have raised alarms about the dangers posed by these unengineered structures. “A gust of wind from behind may cause the structure to collapse, often onto the road,” warned a structural engineering professor from IIT-Madras, who preferred to remain anonymous. The professor, who has consulted on several civil projects with the Tamil Nadu government, noted that older buildings might suffer damage from falling hoardings.
