If your para Puja committee is still chasing sponsors and planning where the big gate and the sponsor banners will go, there is a deadline you cannot miss this week. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has, for the first time, made a no-objection certificate compulsory for every temporary hoarding, banner and flex that a Durga Puja committee wants to put up on city roads. The application window opened on Sunday, September 20, and shuts on Friday, September 25. Miss it, and the committee has no legal cover to put up a single sponsor board on the street, and with KMC promising fines under the KMC Act for anything found outside the permitted period, the cost of ignoring the rule could be more than the banner was ever worth.
What KMC Has Announced
The civic body issued a set of standard operating procedures for Puja advertising on September 18, and followed it up with a public notice fixing the application window. The headline changes are simple. Every Puja committee that plans to install temporary advertisements around its pandal must apply to KMC’s Advertisement Department and obtain an NOC. The permission is being issued as a one-time special clearance for organising the Puja only, so it does not double up as a general advertising licence. Committees must also sign a declaration or undertaking accepting responsibility for the structures they put up.
The trigger is not hard to guess. KMC officials have pointed to years of complaints about sponsor hoardings, bamboo frames and gate structures being left standing on footpaths and road margins long after Bijoya Dashami. Last year the corporation’s teams had to pull down roughly 300 such structures themselves after the festival ended. This year the corporation wants a paper trail for every one of them, with a name, a ward and a borough attached, so that it knows exactly who to bill when something is left behind.
How and When to Apply
Applications are being accepted in person at a special counter at KMC headquarters on S. N. Banerjee Road, between 11 am and 4 pm, from September 20 to September 25. The prescribed form asks for the applicant’s details, the ward and borough where the Puja is held, each location where advertising will be placed, the average size of the hoardings and the type of supporting structure. Committees that spread their sponsor boards along an approach road should list each stretch rather than a single address, since the NOC is tied to the locations declared.
Note that September 22 is the Karam Puja holiday for state offices, and KMC’s regular departments observe the same calendar, so committees should not assume the counter will run at full strength on Tuesday. That leaves Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the safe days to file. Given how many of the city’s roughly 3,000 community Pujas will be queuing at a single window, the sensible move is to go early with a complete form rather than wait for Friday afternoon.
The Rules That Come With the Permission
The NOC is not a blank cheque. KMC has attached a list of conditions that every committee has to accept:
- Display window: hoardings, banners and flexes can go up no earlier than seven days before Mahalaya and must come down within seven days of Bijoya Dashami. With Mahalaya on October 10 and Dashami on October 21 this year, that works out to a display period of October 3 to October 28.
- Height cap: no temporary advertising structure, including its bamboo scaffolding, may rise more than 22 feet from ground level, under any circumstances.
- No-go zones: advertisements cannot be placed on road dividers or median verges, and they cannot block the visibility of bus shelters or of authorised permanent street hoardings.
- Removal at own cost: committees must dismantle and clear every structure at their own expense within the deadline.
- Liability: the committee takes responsibility for any untoward incident involving its structures, which matters in a city where September and October squalls routinely bring down loose frames.
- Fines: anything found beyond the permitted period attracts fines and charges under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, over and above the regular advertisement fees that apply.
Why This Matters Beyond the Committees
Puja advertising is a real economy in Kolkata. For most mid-sized committees, sponsor gates and roadside boards are the difference between a pandal that breaks even and one that leaves the club in debt till Poila Boishakh. Brands, in turn, pay for those boards precisely because they stay up for weeks along busy roads. A hard October 3 start date compresses that window, and the 22-foot cap will force a rethink at the Pujas that have been building ever-taller sponsor gates over the last decade. Expect agencies that handle Puja sponsorships to renegotiate rates, and expect committees to push more of their branding inside the pandal precinct, where KMC’s road-side rules do not reach.
For residents, the change should mean fewer bamboo skeletons cluttering footpaths in November, and fewer torn flexes flapping over traffic signals at Gariahat, Shyambazar and Hazra well into the winter. It also fits a broader tightening around this year’s festival. Bidhannagar Police have already asked committees in Salt Lake and New Town to keep pedestrian access clear for senior citizens, and the state has laid out its own arrangements for pandal electricity, which we covered in our guide to the Durga Puja 2026 power plan and helplines. KMC is also reported to be examining rules on how far food stalls must sit from pandal entrances, so committees should expect at least one more circular before Mahalaya.
What Committees Should Do This Week
- Draw up a location list for every sponsor board, gate and banner you intend to place on a public road, with approximate sizes, before you go to the counter.
- Check that your tallest gate design stays under 22 feet including the bamboo frame, not just the printed flex.
- Keep sponsor boards off dividers and away from bus stops and existing licensed hoardings when you plan the layout.
- Brief your sponsors that nothing goes up before October 3 and everything comes down by October 28, so their agencies plan the printing and installation accordingly.
- Keep a copy of the NOC and the undertaking at the pandal office, since KMC and police inspection teams will ask for it.
- Budget for dismantling in advance. Book the decorator or bamboo contractor for the take-down now, not after Dashami when everyone is scrambling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the KMC NOC compulsory for every Puja committee?
It is compulsory for any committee that wants to put up temporary advertisements, such as sponsor hoardings, banners or flexes, on city roads within KMC limits. A Puja that keeps all its branding inside its own premises does not need it.
What is the last date to apply?
Friday, September 25, 2026. Applications are taken at a special window at KMC headquarters between 11 am and 4 pm.
When can Puja hoardings go up in Kolkata this year?
Not before October 3, which is seven days ahead of Mahalaya on October 10. They must be removed within seven days of Bijoya Dashami, which falls on October 21, so by October 28.
How tall can a Puja hoarding or sponsor gate be?
No more than 22 feet from ground level, including the supporting bamboo structure.
What happens if a hoarding is left up after the deadline?
KMC will impose fines and charges under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, in addition to the regular advertisement fees, and the committee remains responsible for removing the structure at its own cost.
Does this apply to Salt Lake, New Town or Howrah Pujas?
No. The rule covers roads within Kolkata Municipal Corporation limits. Bidhannagar, New Town and Howrah fall under separate municipal bodies with their own permissions, and a link to our explainer on the KMC ward map can help you check whether your Puja sits inside KMC’s area.
The Bottom Line
For the first time, putting up a sponsor banner on a Kolkata road during Durga Puja needs a KMC no-objection certificate, and the window to get one closes on September 25. The conditions are clear: nothing up before October 3, everything down by October 28, nothing taller than 22 feet, nothing on dividers or in front of bus shelters, and fines for anyone who leaves a mess behind. Committees that file early with a complete location list will be fine. Those that treat it as optional may find their sponsor boards coming down at KMC’s hands, with a bill to follow.
Sources: Kolkata Municipal Corporation public notice and standard operating procedures for Durga Puja advertising, as reported by Millennium Post (22 September 2026), The Statesman (18 September 2026) and United News of India (18 September 2026). Festival dates cross-checked against the 2026 Durga Puja calendar for Kolkata.
Featured image: Durga Puja festival crowds and pandal in Kolkata, photo by Sushmita Nag on Unsplash.
