Posters at only designated spots in Ctg from Sept 1; fines for violators

Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) authorities are going to dedicate specific spots for putting up posters in the port city – to keep the city clean.

Those who put up posters here and there in the city have no aesthetic sense, said CCC Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury.

"We want to control this and that's why we are going to designate spots for using posters and would impose fine against those who violate the instruction," he said.

The decision will come into effect from September 1, said CCC sources.

The CCC authorities came up with the decision against the allegations that posters are being put up indiscriminately on the walls of educational institutions, shopping malls and public and private institutions and organisations, said CCC sources.

Shaila Akter, a student of Government Hazi Muhammad Mohsin College in the port city, said boundary walls of Mohsin College and adjacent Chattogram College are covered with posters, which look ugly.

Visiting several areas in the city, including the two colleges, this correspondent found the allegations to be true. Posters were seen on the walls of Chattogram College, Haji Muhammad Mohsin College, Dr Khastagir Govt Girls High School, Katalganj Govt Primary School, Chattogram Medical College Hospital, Chattogram General Hospital and many other institutions.

Contacted, CCC deputy chief conservancy officer Morshedul Alam Chowdhury said the posters are put up late at night. The conservancy workers tear off the posters at dawn but the same happens the next night.

Sources said CCC Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, in a meeting on August 14, instructed the officials concerned to take initiative to build some steel structures and install those at the designated spots.

People will be allowed to put up posters on said structures after a paying a certain amount, the mayor said.

"Some officials said Tk 10 can be charged for a single poster per day on the structures but some others said it should be made more reasonable," Muhammad Abul Hashem, personal secretary to the CCC mayor, said, adding that the mayor instructed the officials to set the amount.

The meeting decided to designate 116 spots for posters, but the mayor instructed to install structures at 70 spots initially, said Hashem.

Many Chittagongians apprehended that the initiative may not last long.

"In the late 1990s, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, then mayor of CCC, took such initiative and dedicated some spots for posters… It worked for several months," said Masud Parvez, a schoolteacher and a resident of the city corporation area.