Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Threat from billboards

The structural safety of advertisement hoardings erected on top of multi-storeyed buildings in the city has become a cause for public concern.

At around 3 p.m. on Thursday, a large advertisement billboard erected on top of a three-storey building at the Pulimoodu Junction came toppling down onto the M.G. Road, snapping power lines and disrupting traffic for several hours. Owing to the ongoing student's agitation in front of the Secretariat, the road was relatively free of pedestrian and vehicular traffic at the time of the accident.

As many as 15 personnel manning an emergency tender of the Fire and Rescue Department toiled for nearly 12 hours using gas cutters to remove the mangled frame of the advertisement board from the road.

The sub-divisional officer of the Fire Force, E. Prasad, said the base of the billboard was weak while the frame was heavy on the top. "The struts at the base of the board were fixed in plastic barrels filled with cement. There was no air vent provision in the vinyl-flex board to minimise wind resistance. A good part of the frame was made of wooden poles,'' he pointed out.

When contacted, the Secretariat ward councillor, Harikumar, alleged that the board was erected without the sanction of the Corporation authorities. He said there had been no action on the part of civic authorities though he had brought the matter to their notice.

In the wake of the accident, the Fire Force would be sending a report to the District Collector on the dangers posed by structurally unsafe billboards erected on top of multi- storey buildings in the city.

Under section 272 of the Kerala Municipalities Act, no advertisement should be exhibited at any site in the city without the permission of the Corporation. However, the rule is observed more in the breach, officials pointed out.

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