The huge artificial archways standing tall at almost all prominent roads of the city are posing a major hurdle in smooth vehicular movement. Even after issuing notification to Durga Puja committees to remove all archways, advertisement hoardings decorated along roads on October 1 by 11am no committee paid heed to the notification issued by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) on September 26.
Notably, a day prior to the commencement of Muharram procession, ADM (law and Order), Girija Shankar Prasad had also instructed the RMC officials to remove all the billboards set up along roads at the earliest.
Municipal Commissioner, Shaantanu Kumar Agrahari said, “The city enforcement cell officers have been assigned the duty of the removing the archways. By evening, we will have the list of defaulters. Hefty penalty will be imposed upon the defaulters for violating the notification as the responsibility for ensuring removal of archways decked up along the roads is solely upon the puja samiti organizers. The Civic Body can act only in special cases when billboards are not removed even after constant reminders.”
Meanwhile, when enquired about the present status of big hoardings decked up along the roadside, none of the City Managers were able to give the list or quote the exact numbers from where hoardings, archways have been removed by far.
Citing human resource crunch issue, RMC City Manager, Shashi Prakash, said, “The work of removing hoardings is taking time as we have the shortage of human resource. So far, under the guidance of 12 enforcement cell officers, the task of archways removal is being carried out. Also, surveying the spots is consuming time.”
Notably, major city squares like Harmu Road, New Market area, Kokar Chowk witnesses traffic snarl daily due to the presence of big archways during the rushed hours. Also, this year, considering the flow of traffic at different avenues, the defaulters will have to pay the fine amount that can range up to `1 lakh for not removing the hoardings in stimulated time.