By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 26: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) on Wednesday removed the billboards displaying advertisements from Maitighar Mandala to Tinkune.
The billboards which were displayed at Maitighar Mandala area advertised Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) while others, from Mandala to Tinkune, advertised Nepal Telecom. They were removed from the area after they didn’t fully comply with the agreements reached with KMC.
As per their social responsibility, they have to repair traffic island, and maintain and promote greenery. But neither abided by that principle. They only displayed their advertisements.
On November 24 last year, the KMC had signed an agreement with ADB to hand over the responsibility of the beautification of Maitighar Mandala to it.
As per the agreement, the bank should bear all the expenses of planting flower, along with maintaining and preserving the Mandala area without changing its original structure for five years.
In another agreement signed on November 26, 2014, Nepal Telecom had taken responsibility of island management from Maitighar Mandala to Tinkune.
“Despite requesting multiple times to work in line with the agreement, both organisations failed to do so. Therefore, KMC was forced to remove their billboards,” said Rajeshwor Gyawali, chief administrative officer of KMC.
Both organizations focussed on keeping their advertisements but not on the beautification task.
Meanwhile, KMC is preparing to manage both beautification task and island on its own. It has already set up colour pipe light at Maitighar Mandala in order to beautify it during the night.