SM Hussain wrote to me regarding the issue of advertisement hoardings that dot the roads of Delhi. This issue is of grave concern. He writes, “The Supreme Court has banned hoardings or banners on the roadsides because they distract the attention of the motorists leading to accidents. But still we come across big hoardings on fly-overs (for eg. there are huge hoardings on both sides of the Modi-Mill fly-over) and many of them are dotting the Mathura Road between Apollo Hospital and Modi Mill Fly-over.

“The advertisers are flouting the law by putting these hoardings on the railway land adjacent to railway-tracks where the MCD has no jurisdiction. And also hoardings are displayed by constructing public conveniences where they are not required. Some firms, especially mobile operators, display cloth banners across the main roads tying both the end of the banner on trees or poles with the help of plastic ropes in a precarious manner.

“At times the ropes dangle on the main roads. Two wheeler drivers are at great risk because of them. Apart from these death traps, these hoardings are lit at night with the help of generators polluting the environment. Once in a while MCD removes these banners without taking any action against the culprits. If huge penalties were imposed on these defaulters, it would act as a deterrent for others not to repeat the same crime.”

These hoardings are not only on the railway land but also on MCD land. Even traffic police has raised their concerns, but MCD pays no heed to it. Actually the MCD officials earn fat sum of money due to these hoardings. So they don’t want to let go of them. I think the Supreme Court should take notice of this and save motorists from distraction while driving.