On March 11, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar and PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram announced the driver after a joint meeting of Pune City Police and PMC was held. (Express Photo)As part of a special drive launched by the Pune Municipal Corporation and Pune City Police, as many as 2,600 illegal hoardings, banners and flex boards have been removed. Special night patrolling teams of the PMC and Police have been formed to prevent such illegal hoardings again coming up, officials said.The joint drive was launched after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis raised the issue of illegal hoardings defacing cities and towns in the state. On March 11, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar and PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram announced the driver after a joint meeting of Pune City Police and PMC was held.A PMC official said on Monday, “In Pune city, over the last four days, around 2,600 items including flex boards, banners and hoardings have been removed. To ensure that boards and banners are not put up again in the city, special night patrol teams have been appointed. If such boards or banners are found being installed again, legal action will be taken against those responsible by the Municipal Corporation. In addition, police patrol teams have also been deployed for monitoring.”“In cases where illegal hoarding structures are removed, a fine of Rs two lakh per hoarding will be recovered from the responsible parties. If the fine is not paid, the amount will be recovered through taxes along with penalties. Each ward office has appointed a special team for the removal of illegal hoardings, and corresponding orders have been issued. Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram has issued strict instructions to intensify the enforcement action.”Announcing the drive, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar had said, “A sharp rise has been observed in the number of illegal and unauthorised hoardings in the city. A joint coordinated drive is being launched against these illegal hoardings. We have chalked out a strategy to remove all illegal hoardings from the city in one week. We will take action against printers who print these hoardings and publishers who display it, and those who erect illegal structures for it. Their list has been prepared. Police and PMC are appealing to the people of Pune to help us get rid of the defacement that these hoardings cause.”Naval Kishore Ram had said, “Pune City is developing very rapidly. We have a choice between reckless expansion and disciplined growth, and we obviously want to choose disciplined growth. The Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra has raised the issue of illegal hoardings multiple times in his speeches in the recent past. To stop this defacement, we are launching a drive to make Pune illegal hoarding free. Hoardings of people giving birthday wishes keep coming up. These hoardings have some large faces and dozens of small faces and this affects the aesthetics of the city. We are taking into confidence 165 newly elected corporators and city unit heads of each political party in this effort.”Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:hoarding