Hyderabad: GHMC imposes 120 cr fine on flexies, collects Rs 12 cr

Hyderabad: After a ban on illegal flexies in the city was imposed in 2019, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) imposed a penalty of Rs 120 crore on offenders, but, managed to collect a mere Rs 12 crore.

The GHMC is authorised to notify people to pay the fines, or seize the licenses defaulters and also seize their businesses. However the civic body has not taken action against the offenders. The unpaid dues have led to the exhaustion of GHMC coffers.

The ban on flexies dates back to 1996, which came into effect as per GO No 1163 in the entire state. The guidlines to implement the ban were drawn in October 2019. The civic body has imposed over 2 lakh challans since 2019 mostly against unauthorised hoardings, printing agencies etc.

“We had conducted a drive during April and issued 1,321 challans against printing agencies. Out of which 83% were commercial hoardings, while the rest were political” a GHMC offical was quoted as saying by the Times of India.