Punit Balan Group (PBG) | Notice issued by PMC’s sky sign department sent out of personal vendetta and it is a bid to malign my reputation and it is illegal and wrong, says businessman Punit Balan

Punit Balan wants civic administration to cancel notice

On Oct 25, 2023

Pune : NpNews24 Online – Businessman Punit Balan has told the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that the notice issued to him by the sky sign department regarding use of advertisements during the Dahi Handi festival in 2023 is illegal and the notice was issued to him instead of being sent to the mandals, out of personal vendetta and is a bid to malign his reputation and it was deliberately sent to the media. Balan asked the civic administration to cancel the notice and issue a clarification in the media.

The sky sign department has asked Punit Balan to pay a fine of ₹3 crore for advertisements of Punit Balan Group and Oxyrich company pasted by the mandals during the Dahi Handi festival. The notice contains a warning that if the fine is not paid, then the fine would be included in the property tax of the Balan Group. Punit Balan has given a detailed reply to the notice sent by the PMC on October 3 and he has made the above mentioned demands.

The letter sent by Balan states that in the meeting held under the chairmanship of CM on September 14, 2023, it was mentioned that the civic administration in a letter sent to the state government on January 4, 2023 had admitted that no charges were being levied for stage and pandal during the Ganesh festival. From 2019, the welcome arch and pandal charges, which had been approved by the police department, had been cancelled by the GB on September 9, 2019 and they were not being collected.

During Ganesh festival in 2019, the permission granted to Moharram, Dahi Handi and Ganesh mandals given in online and offline mode will be valid for five years i.e. 2022 to 2027 and the decision had been taken in a meeting of Ganesh mandals, police officials and civic officials held in August 2022.

“Our companies are only advertisers and the advertisements have been pasted by the mandals. Hence, even if the civic administration wanted to issue a notice, it should have been sent to the mandals. However, instead of doing that, the PMC has deliberately sent it to me out of personal vendetta and in a bid to tarnish my reputation. The civic administration has deliberately sent the notice to the media and got it published. Against this background, the civic administration should cancel the notice sent to me and inform the media about its cancellation. When the state government has announced that festivals should be celebrated without any restrictions, it is illegal for the civic administration to levy a fine and demand charges for defacement. It is illegal to even mention that the fine and charges would be collected from the property tax and the civic administration should take a note of it,” the letter sent by Punit Balan to the civic administration states.

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