Mayor M Goutham Kumar has ordered to suspend the licences of commercial establishments that failed to display their name boards in Kannada despite being slapped with notices.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Kumar asked Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to hold surprise inspections of the establishments. He also asked them to educate the businesses on displaying 60% of the content of their name boards in Kannada as mandated by the civic body.
“It is mandatory to have nameplates in Kannada in pubs, malls and restaurants,” he said.
Kumar said that while 48,000 commercial units have trade licences, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Bescom) claims that there are five lakh establishments. “If the BBMP takes appropriate action, the income would increase,” he said.
Complying with a high court order, the mayor said he has asked the joint commissioners of the zones to dismantle the metal frames of the hoardings.
He said the owners who erected the metal frames will be asked to take them apart from themselves, failing which the civic body would do it. “I’ll write to the police (for protection) to ensure officials face no threats while bringing down the frames,” he said.
Beautification drive
In a move to beautify the city, Kumar said hoardings, posters, advertisement sheets stuck on the walls and trees and graffiti will be removed in phases. To begin with, officials have been asked to focus on hoardings adjacent to pavements and stormwater drains.
“All hoardings under the Palike’s jurisdiction must be removed,” Kumar said. “Regarding the hoarding near Hebbal Flyover, it’s in BDA premises and they said it has been erected in PPP (public-private partnership) model. We’ll discuss with the officials and have it removed.”