GORKHA, August 23: It has come to light that taxes for the hoarding boards installed around the main market of Gorkha district headquarters and checkpoints to enter the district have not been paid. 

Hoarding boards showing advertisements of colleges, travel agencies and mobile phones, among others, are put up without permission from the authorities concerned. About two dozen boards along the roadside after Marsyangdi Pul in Abu Khaireni, Tanahu and the checkpoint to enter Gorkha at Deurali VDC have not acquired permission. 

Ramesh Dhakal, secretary of ward 14, said, "We haven’t received a single rupee in taxes from the hoarding boards." Although some hoarding boards are for public awareness, most of them are advertisements of private organizations. “The boards with messages of public awareness have received permission and paid taxes, but the commercial ones have failed to follow the suit,” said acting officer of Gorkha Municipality, Jeevan Ale.

He admitted the municipality’s inability to collect tax and said such behavior had encouraged other commercial institutions to install hoarding boards sans permission and without paying tax. "This year, we have called for tender to curb the issue,” added Ale. 

Meanwhile, Nepal Electricity Authority, Gorkha mentioned that the flexes and boards hanged on the electricity poles have created problems in power distribution. Similarly, pamphlets and vouchers stuck in religious and cultural sites have visually polluted the area.