Navi Mumbai illegal banners and political hoardings have proliferated across road junctions and civic nodes ahead of Navratri, prompting residents and activists to accuse the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation of failing to enforce rules against public-space defacement.
Large banners featuring politicians have appeared along roads in different parts of the city, according to residents cited in the report. They alleged that several of the displays were put up without mandatory permission from civic agencies and the traffic police. The complaints have emerged as Navi Mumbai seeks to regain its reputation for cleanliness and while authorities continue to promote the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Residents also alleged unequal enforcement. They said ordinary citizens are required to obtain official permission for banners and advertisements, while politically influential offenders are often allowed to put up displays without facing immediate action. One resident said the city had remained largely free of illegal banners during elections because of the model code of conduct, but that political displays returned as the festival season approached. The resident said a similar situation had occurred during the Ganesh festival.
The dispute also has a municipal revenue dimension. Activist Dhananjay Suvarna said the civic body was losing revenue by allowing political banners to be installed without payment of prescribed charges at designated locations. Under the system described by residents, ward officers can permit banners after collecting the applicable charges, making the alleged absence of permission a question of both enforcement and lost municipal income.
Residents questioned why ward officers had not identified and removed unauthorised political advertisements. Activist Santush Patil claimed that banners across Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation nodes did not carry permission stickers, which he said indicated possible violations of advertising norms. Developer Manohar Shroff alleged double standards in enforcement and claimed that corruption had made officials reluctant to act. Those claims were made by the individuals cited in the report and were not independently established in the supplied material.
Vashi resident C S Parwana said residents were frustrated by what he described as a dual policy of the civic body. Referring to a recent High Court instruction, Parwana said civic bodies had been directed to comply with measures aimed at making urban areas free of defacement and that offenders should be penalised for making the city look unclean.
The issue places Navi Mumbai’s festival-season advertising practices against its wider public-space management responsibilities. Banners installed at junctions and along roads can affect the visual condition of streets and raise questions about permission systems, traffic visibility and the consistency of municipal action. The supplied report does not establish the number of banners, the locations of specific violations, the revenue allegedly lost or the penalties imposed.
A civic official said special teams had been deployed to crack down on illegal banners and that action would be taken soon. Residents remained dissatisfied with that response. The next stage is expected to be the identification and removal of unauthorised displays by the deployed teams, along with enforcement action under the applicable civic and advertising rules.
