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Download PDF Billboards installed on rooftops have become death traps in the city as a number of people have been killed and many others injured when loosely held hoardings fell off during stormy weather.
An unidentified youth was killed in front of Chandrima Super Market during Wednesday night’s storm. Earlier, security guard Hazarat Ali, 46, was killed on June 17, 2006 on Pragati Sarani and a boy in front of the Shishu Park last year.
Besides, a large number people were injured as either billboards or metal parts fell on them.
Over 3,000 rooftop billboards are currently installed in the city. Roadside buildings in Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Karwan Bazar, Farmgate, Mirpur, Mohakhali, Gulshan, Uttara, Kuril Bishwa Road, Airport Road, Dhaka University campus, Motijheel and other important areas are thick with billboards.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Naim Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday: “Action might be taken against the owners of the billboards under the Negligence Act of the DMP.
“We have to investigate whether there was any fault in the installation of the billboards. The Dhaka City Corporation is the proper authorities to take care of the matter.”
Contacted, Commander Maksudur Rahman Chowdhury, chief conservancy officer (CCO) of DCC, yesterday said: “When the DCC launched a drive to demolish the rooftop billboards, the owners filed writs with the High Court. Now we can’t do anything against them although there is a ban imposed in 2005 on rooftop billboards.
“We’ve already warned all the owners of the buildings on which the billboards are installed, but they also could not remove those due to the stay.
“DCC has assigned a barrister to move in the High Court and we are hopeful that the court would deliver verdict in favour of us.”
Sources say the Outdoor Advertisement Owners’ Association (OAOA) filed two writs — one against DCC and the other against Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) — in 2006 against the move to demolish rooftop billboards.
OAOA general secretary Mohammad Rashed claimed billboard collapse did not kill the youth on Wednesday night. The youth was killed when a piece of “tin fell on him”, he told The Daily Star.
Rashed, also owner of ad firm Century Art, said, “When a lot of people are getting killed in various accidents including road, river and even building collapse, a few deaths due to billboard collapse are not something exception.”
During a visit to the Chandrima Super Market yesterday, it was seen that the three-storey building houses also a mosque with several billboards on rooftop.
Besides, a huge quantity of iron rods, bars and several pieces of tin of damaged billboards was also found dumped on top of the building.
Manjurul Karim who identified him as an office assistant of the building said, ” Cyclone Sidr damaged the billboards installed on the building top, while a city corporation drive also knocked down a few.”
He opposed the OAOA leader’s statement saying there is nothing but remains of billboards on the roof.
The security guard of the building said the youth was killed when a piece of billboard fell on him as he was standing between Chandrima Super market and New Market.
Motahar Ali, assistant sub-inspector of New Market Police Station, who visited the spot after the accident, said, “An iron bar from a billboard fell off and hit the youth.”
Meanwhile, DCC is losing Tk 3 crore a year in revenue since it is neither able to collect taxes from outdoor advertisers for those billboards nor able to dismantle those due to the court injunction.
Sources say the DCC guidelines on outdoor advertisements allow no overhead billboards in front of hospitals, government offices, educational institutions, mosques, temples, churches, museums, and at historical sites.
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