Bengaluru: Flex banners and flexible rules

Flex banners are thriving in the city while the number of complaints against violators has reduced. Will the BBMP come up with a strategy to deal with the menace?

Despite being prohibited by the Karnataka High Court since 2018, flex banners continue to be an eyesore in Bengaluru’s landscape. Most banners and buntings are dated, and their life on display is short. They sit in their spots for weeks, or even months, contributing to the visual clutter of the garden city.

“We can see big banners of 20 feet in height, many of them located in curves that are risky and create blindspots for vehicles. There are banners put up using loose poles and can fall down anytime on commuters,” said Datta Saraf, a civic activist from Nagarabavi.

Bengaluru traffic police commissioner M A Salim, agrees. “If someone starts staring at these billboards instead of driving, it could lead to an accident.”

Banners are thrown on the road or go into the landfill, both of which lead to pollution, said Saraf.

Cascading effects

The problem is not new. In 2008, the Yediyurappa-led BJP government banned flex and banners within two kilometres of Vidhana Soudha. However, things got reversed soon.

N R Ramesh, ex-corporator of Yediyur ward who belongs to BJP, was one among those who filed public interest litigations (PIL) in 2014-15 against hoardings, flexes and banners. The BBMP councillors unanimously passed a resolution to ban all of it in 2019. Then, the High Court banned all commercial hoardings, flexes and banners in the city.

The BBMP Advertising Department has issued several notices to Revenue officials in all zones, asking them to survey the wards often and clear up unauthorised advertisements quickly, and file cases against those who put them up.

One such notice accessed by DH talks about fining the sponsors of such banners, or those in whose name the banners have been put up, and recovering the cost of removal from them. Assistant Revenue Officers (AROs) were instructed to monitor this work and report the action taken to the department.

“This is not happening because AROs are under political pressure. When we complain, they keep quiet for two-three days and then send someone to remove it,” said V K Srivatsa, secretary of Changemakers of Kanakpura Road.

“Usually, Pourakarmikas come and remove it, put it in the garbage vehicle and go. This is a misuse of garbage vans because on those days garbage collection gets hit in some areas. People start throwing garbage on roads, this leads to a cascading effect,” he explains.

“Whenever they remove a flex banner, they must file complaints against those who erected it, but that is not happening,” said Srivatsa.

Not obliged to, yet they act

Satyalaxmi Rao, a civic activist from Basavanagudi ward, used to see huge banners and flexes in her ward. Being a ward committee member, there were times when she complained to BBMP officials, but in vain. “When all else failed, I went to the local police, who promptly removed flexes and banners.”

A police officer, preferring anonymity, said the police do not have powers to file suo motu cases with regard to flex banners. The BBMP maintains public places under Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981 (KOPD Act). The responsibility lies on BBMP, so officials have to file complaints, he said.

The data from City Crime Record Bureau (CCRB) shows that only 66 complaints have been filed by the BBMP against those who erected flex banners in 2022. Sources said that the PayCM posters that cropped up in the city attracted many FIRs.

When asked if the traffic police can act on the banners at busy signals, Salim said, “The traffic police can take action if the banners are placed in such a way that they may hinder traffic. Otherwise, it is subject to the laws of BBMP to take action.”

BBMP Advertising Department has no consolidated data on the action taken by the zonal officials. Zones sometimes miss sending the data on the action taken. Officials also cite the fear of retaliation by political interests as a reason for inaction against flex banners.

Sridharamurthy, Assistant Commissioner, Advertisement Department, said that the department is directly not responsible for flex banner removals, and zonal commissioners have been given powers to do it. “Local officials keep removing them as soon as flex banners come up,” he said.

‘Illegal cell’

Ramesh said that the BBMP advertisement department must put contempt of court cases on such politicians to teach them a lesson. “BBMP should have issued notices to flex printers across the city as per the court order, It has been three years still not done,” he said.

The issue of flex and banners is closely tied to hoardings which are also banned. “The BBMP should have issued notices to the 110 outdoor advertising agencies in the city not to erect flexes and banners,” he added.

“They should file contempt of court petitions on some of them, to send a message,” he said, calling BBMP Legal Cell an “Illegal cell” which does not help the BBMP win cases and vacate stays by advertising companies.

What’s the solution?

People have accepted that flex banners are inevitable sometimes. Srivatsa quotes a local leader who said people living in slums, not active on social media, will see the banner and think they are doing good work.

“We cannot avoid them ahead of elections,” said Satyalaxmi, adding that BBMP must designate places for this where common citizens are not inconvenienced.

“Let them have official LED billboards or advertising boards in common areas like parks which do not produce waste. Political parties are ready to shell out money, let BBMP make some money from this,” said Saraf. If possible, stop all flex banner printing industry, it’s simple. Everything will be over, he said.

“Officials ask us to lodge a complaint. But why do they need a complaint to remove flexes and banners? They have a fantastic network that reaches each and every road through Pourakarmikas, link workers, supervisors etc. They can see it and get it removed,” said Saraf.

BBMP commissioner Tushar Girinath told DH, “Everything about the flex banners, from the material they are made of to putting them on display, is unlawful. Despite that, if people put them up, firstly, it is their moral obligation to take them down as soon as possible. The revenue officers of the advertising department, along with the help of AEs and AEEs have the authority to remove the banners.”

When asked if digital banners could be a viable option, he said, “As of now, the government’s advertisement policy does not allow either flex banners or digital billboards in the city.”

“Thousands of people are directly employed in the flex printing business and the manufacturing of flex printing machines. Prohibition has never solved anything. The BBMP should rather hold people accountable for failing to remove these banners on time,” said Vijaykumar, Karnataka State Plastic Association President.

‘Difficult to collect and recycle’

Apart from the aesthetic degradation of the city, there are other challenges related to flex banners. Experts say recycling the banners and buntings is not an option, and reusing them is challenging.

Social activist and entrepreneur Nalini Shekar, who runs a waste management NGO, said, “We have discovered that the majority of small banners and buntings end up in landfills. Some are put up just for a few hours. Managing the smaller ones is difficult because they are more in numbers. There are times when banners remain on display for a long period of time and degrade, so there is no scope to reuse them.”

The sample data shared by Nalini showed that very little of the banner waste reaches dry waste collection centres.

Dr Shanthi, a member of Bengaluru-based Solid Waste Management Round Table told DH, “Managing flex banners and buntings is tricky as there is no provision to collect them separately yet. There are some ways in which they could be reused.

They can serve as tent house roofs for the underprivileged. But in a tropical climate like ours, they start to degrade quickly and turn into microplastics. They could be used as grow bags for plants or dry waste bags. However, as they are made of thin micron PVC and have toxic ink on them, they start degrading soon.”

On condition of anonymity, a flex printing agency that distributes political banners to parties told DH that because political parties place bulk orders, the banners and ink they prefer is of lower quality than normal flex banners.

Even cloth banners cannot be a viable alternative. “Printing enterprises use low-quality polyester instead of cotton, which is also non-recyclable. There are numerous reasons for this, including higher printing quality on the former, lower cost, and so on,” Shanthi said.