Saturday, May 22, 2010

MCD gets tough on colony advertisements

Residents living in society flats in the national Capital would soon have to shell out a heavy fine if companies that advertise their brand or products on the society's entrance boards do not pay a charge to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

In an attempt to extract advertisement tax from companies which advertise their brand's name on the welcome boards at the entrance of these residential blocks, the MCD is conducting a survey to ascertain the exact number of societies in Delhi with advertiser sponsored welcome boards.

"All the apartments in the capital have these welcome boards and they are sponsored by the advertisers who pitch their products on them. They need to pay us for advertising their brand otherwise we will take strict action against the companies and the society's president as well," said B N Singh, director of the advertisement department in the MCD.

There are approximately 2,000 societies in Delhi. According to him, notices to advertisers are already in the process of being sent for the payment of advertisement tax. MCD officials have decided to fix the charges for the boards. "The advertisers will have to pay us Rs 100 for one square metre per month. According to our estimates, the normal welcome board being displayed comes to around 10 square metre," Singh added.

This way, for a 10- metre board size, an advertiser has to pay Rs 1,000 per month to the civic agency. According to Section 143 of the Delhi Municipal Council (DMC) Act, the MCD's permission is mandatory for advertising of any form."Take for instance: so and so company welcomes you to XYZ Enclave. For the people living there, it's a free board as the advertisers sponsor the board and gets it placed on the societies' entrance gates.

Thousands of people get to see it. If this is not advertisement, then what is?" Singh asked.
With thanks : source : Jagran City Plus. Original link in headline above.

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