Commissioner orders removal of all billboards from roads

After two motorcyclists were injured on Thursday due to the collapse of a billboard near Metropole Chowrangi during the heavy rainfall, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani directed the removal of all the billboards, signboards and other advertisement materials in the city.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ban, billboards have been installed on all the major thoroughfares of Karachi. In 2018, the apex court had passed an order for the removal of billboards from all public properties across the city, including cantonment areas and housing societies.

The commissioner’s order addressed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), all the six District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) of the city, deputy commissioners of all the six districts of the city and executive officers of the cantonment boards of Malir, Clifton, Karachi, Manora, Faisal, and Korangi Creek.

The order said that the prevailing monsoon and heavy rainfall in the city had resulted in the loss of precious human lives and damage to properties due to billboards, signboards and other advertisement material on the roads falling down.

In compliance with the Supreme Court order, the commissioner said that he had issued directives that the billboards, signboards and other advertisement material should be removed forthwith to avoid losses of lives and damages to properties in the city.

“Please take appropriate and immediate action into the matter in the light of order of the apex court and submit report to this office on daily basis for perusal of learned commissioner Karachi division,” the order reads.

Decision to open marriage halls

In another press statement, the commissioner said that no permission had been given for opening of gyms, marriage halls, parks and cinemas in the city. The decision, in this regard, he said, would be taken after the provincial task force under the supervision of the Sindh chief minister reviewed the situation.

The National Command and Operations Centre’s (NCOC) meeting a few days ago decided to reopen dine-in restaurants and beauty salons across Pakistan on August 10 as efforts against the coronavirus pandemic seem to bear fruit.