Putting up posters: CCC to designate 115 spots, set fees
The Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) will designate 115 specific spots in the port city where people can put up posters for a fee.
This decision has been taken in a bid to make keep the city neat and clean, sources in the CCC said.
However, instead of managing the system on its own, the CCC will go through a tender process to select a private company for the management, they said, adding that the decision came in an internal meeting of CCC Conservancy Department on Monday.
Contacted, CCC Chief Conservancy Officer Abul Hashem said the tender would be floated by publishing a circular in newspapers in a day or two and through this process, a company would be selected for the management of posters to be pasted in the designated areas.
"The highest bidder would be selected through the tender. The selected company would set up steel structures of 10 feet/ 6 feet in the dedicated spots and realise fee from individuals or organizations who put up posters there.
"The fee would be fixed by the CCC," he said.
Hashem said a fine would be imposed on those who paste posters beyond the specific spots.
A part of the revenue from the fees will go to the CCC, officials said.
The CCC authorities made the decision against the backdrop of widespread criticism of posters being indiscriminately pasted on walls of educational institutions, shopping malls and public and private institutions and organisations, said CCC sources.
Through creating designated spots to paste posters, the city's cleanliness and aesthetic quality would be maintained to a great extent on the one hand, and the CCC would be benefitted through earning revenue on the other, city corporation officials said.
This process started when on August 14 last year, CCC Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury instructed officials concerned to take initiatives to build some steel structures in dedicated spots and fix a fee for pasting posters there, the officials said.
Asked what they would do about banners that are regularly posted all over the city, Abul Hashem said no decision was made about that.
"We will decide about banners after deciding about the posters."
Many city dwellers were however doubtful of the success of the initiative despite terming it a good one to keep the city clean.
Abdul Aziz, a banker, welcomed the initiative but expressed doubt over its efficacy.
"In the late 1990s, late ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, the then mayor of CCC, took such an initiative and dedicated some spots for pasting posters. It worked only for a few months."
Contacted, CCC Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said those who put up posters indiscriminately including on walls of educational institutions and hospitals seem not to have common sense.
"We want to bring this under control and so we are going to dedicate spots for pasting posters and impose fines against those who violate the rule."
Asked about the success of the initiative, the mayor said mass awareness is the key to success of any rule imposed for public interest.
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