RITES to find out if ads can be displayed on FOBs

August 16, 2013

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Joel Joseph, TNN |

GURGAON: The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon has asked RITES to conduct a survey and submit a report mentioning whether or not the advertisements can be displayed on the 14 foot overbridges (FOB) it intends to build across the city.The FOB project has been in the pipeline for over two years now and was caught in a limbo after Punjab and Haryana high court, while hearing a PIL, directed all municipal bodies in the state to ensure that there are no advertisements on roads that distract the attention of motorists, leading to accidents.

Initially the MCG planned to construct the FOBs on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis wherein the agency that would get the contract to build them would get rights to display advertisement on them for a specific number of years. However, following the high court order, the construction model had to be re-looked since the advertisements could no longer be installed.

Not willing to spend its own money, despite being cash rich, the MCG has now asked RITES to conduct a survey of all the 14 locations and report in which all spots the advertisements can be displayed without diverting the attention of the motorists or being a traffic hazard.

According to a source, depending on the report, if there are spots which are non-hazardous, the contract for these will be given on BOT basis and for the rest the MCG will spend its own money in constructing them.

The lack of foot over bridges in the city is leading to a rise in traffic accidents in the city. The latest data from the traffic police shows an increase in the pedestrian deaths as they are forced to brave traffic in order to cross the road. Out of the 14 locations that will have FOBs, the first is to come up on the old Delhi-Gurgaon road near the Delhi border.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com