Officials of the Revenue Department of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) said all billboards that have been installed after June 30, 2003 were illegal as the DCC had stopped issuing new permits and renewing old ones since that date.

However, companies buying the spaces are not aware of this and most of them claimed that the agencies had shown them the DCC's permit.

"We have hired the board from an agency last year and they showed us the consent paper. We have no reasons to check with the DCC regarding whether it is a false paper or not," said the marketing officer of a reputed company.

Sources in the DCC said that some agencies obtain false permissions through some corrupt officials. These so-called permits do not have any files to back up their legitimacy.

The new trend in advertising boards is unipole. It is a single high column placed beside roads and intersections having advertising space on both sides. Tri-vision boards are imported from Italy and advertisements are seen from three angles. These types of billboards are now found at almost every major intersection of the city.

"These advertising boards are risky for the traffic as they obstruct the vision and also diverts the attention of drivers," said Abul Hasnat, executive engineer, Zone-Six of DCC.

DCC officials told Star City that advertising agencies now prefer to install unipoles as they occupy less space at the bottom, are easier to set up and also costs less.

Secretary of Outdoor Advertising Owners Association (OAOA) Haji Mohammed Rashed claimed that the new unipoles were being erected on private lands as the DCC was not permitting advertisement boards on public places.

About unipoles, the secretary agreed that they occupy less ground space. "Unlike other boards, it does not take up a lot of space or create vision hazard for drivers and commuters. Therefore it does not hamper the beauty of the city," said Rashed who however denied that unipoles were less expensive. "One unipole may cost around Tk 2.5," he said.

When asked how certain agencies were installing unipole billboards on private land without necessary permission from DCC, Rashed said that all the advertisers have applied for permits. "But of course you can not call it legal unless they get the permission," he added.

The DCC has reportedly directed its zonal offices to deal with the billboard issue instead of the revenue department which had looked after it before. Officials of zonal offices said that they had started dismantling the illegal boards.

"We have limited manpower but we are trying our best," said an official of Zone Six. He also said that the DCC has been unable to dismantle all illegal billboards even after a year of initiating the move because of an injunction from the Appellate Division of Supreme Court following a writ petition filed by OAOA.