COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has finalised QR codes for 273 approved advertising hoardings in the city as part of efforts to streamline regulation of outdoor advertisements and curb unauthorised billboards.The QR codes, being issued to licensed advertisers, will be linked to individual geotagged locations of the hoardings. The corporation is integrating the details with its official website, with the information expected to be made available for public access from next week.The initiative is aimed at enabling residents and enforcement officials to verify whether a hoarding has a valid permit and whether it is located at an approved site. The QR code will provide details like the location through a map view and the permit period, including its commencement and expiry dates.A senior corporation official said the system would make monitoring of hoardings more transparent and help the civic body act against violations.“The QR-based system will allow us to maintain an updated record of every approved hoarding, including its exact location and validity of permission. It will also help the public identify unauthorised advertisements and enable quicker enforcement action,” the official said.The corporation has launched the ‘CCMC Hoardings Tracker’ on its online control panel to monitor permitted hoardings and their status.As part of the enforcement drive, inspections were carried out in all five zones of the corporation. Unauthorised advertising banners, billboards and temporary advertisement poles identified during the inspections were removed immediately.The civic body has begun removing hoardings whose permissions have expired and those that were not approved by the town planning authorities. Officials said advertisers would have to renew permits within the stipulated period to continue displaying advertisements.The enforcement action against unauthorised billboards within the corporation limits began zone-wise from July 28, after which over one lakh in penalties have been imposed and collected on at least 10 unauthorised hoardings.
