Maintain civilised look of city: SC to KMC

Kathmandu, September 5

The Supreme Court for the second time issued an order to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to maintain a civilised appearance of the metropolis, saying random visual pollutants, such as hoarding boards, have marred the city’s beauty.

The SC issued the directive on Wednesday as its earlier order to remove visual pollutants from core city areas went largely unimplemented.

Padam Bahadur Shrestha, president, Environmental Development and Conservation Legal Forum, had filed a writ petition seeking SC order to the KMC to remove visual pollutants. He complained that efforts made by the KMC were not satisfactory, despite the SC’s earlier directive to this effect.

Hoarding boards are a common sight along the roads at Ratnapark, Pradarshani Marg, Putalisadak, Kalanki, New Baneshwor, Chabahil, Airport, Gongabu and other major areas of the city.

Dhruba Kafle, chief of the Revenue Department at the KMC, said removal of visual pollutants was interrupted by the recent devastating earthquakes.

“After the earthquake the KMC switched to restoration of quake damaged infrastructures,” he said, adding that the KMC would soon start a campaign to remove illegally placed hoarding boards and other visual pollutants. “Though we have been warning movie production companies, advertisers and political parties against pasting posters, they do not heed our warnings and paste posters during night,” he said.

Dhanapati Sapkota, chief of the Enforcement and Implementation Department at the KMC, said offenders had been fined from Rs 500 to 10,000 in the past for polluting the city.

More than 30,000 randomly placed hoarding boards were removed from buildings in the capital last year.