Pune: PMC to Hire Consultant to Conduct Survey and Count Illegal Hoardings in City
Pune, 17th April 2026: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has approved a proposal to appoint a consultant to survey and count illegal advertisement hoardings erected across different parts of the city. The proposal was approved at a recent standing committee meeting on Friday.
During the meeting, officials from the Sky Sign department informed members of the committee that action had been taken against 67 illegal hoardings in the past few days.
However, officials also indicated that the actual number of unauthorised hoardings across the city could be between 1,000 and 1,500. To ascertain the exact figure, the civic body has decided to appoint a consultant agency to conduct a detailed survey.
A few months ago, municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram had reviewed the issue of illegal hoardings and assigned responsibility to the PMC’s 15 regional offices. At that time, the administration had claimed that only around 200 hoardings in the city were unauthorised.
The latest estimate has now raised questions over how the figure could jump from 200 to as many as 1,500 within six months.
Meanwhile, the PMC’s audit report has pointed out that more than Rs 404 crore remains recoverable by the licence and Sky Sign department. The amount pertains to dues accumulated over the past several years, and auditors have reportedly sought a detailed explanation for the outstanding figure.
The audit department has complained that despite repeated correspondence, officials from the Sky Sign department have failed to provide complete records. Taking serious note of the matter, the chief auditor has now written directly to the standing committee, flagging large pending dues from two different periods.
Standing committee chairman Shrinath Bhimale said the Sky Sign department has been directed to recover the outstanding dues within one month. He added that a detailed report on the exact number of illegal hoardings in the city would be available within the next eight to ten days.
