Hoarding at Mulund toll plaza illegal, admits Minister
staff correspondent
Mumbai: A hoarding was erected illegally without the permission of the Mumbai civic body at a toll plaza admitted Maharashtra Industries minister Uday Samant on Friday after the issue was raised in the legislative assembly by BJP MLAs.
Mumbai had witnessed a hoarding collapse tragedy on May 13, 2024, in the Ghatkopar area that killed 17 persons and injured 75 others.
Samant said that the state government would direct the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to audit the hoardings in the city and the report would be tabled in the assembly during the next session.
BJP MLA Ameet Satam said the contractor responsible for erecting the hoarding at the Mulund toll plaza had been fined 68 times.
Samant, speaking on behalf of Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde who heads Shiv Sena, said an FIR was registered against the contractor for violating rules.
The minister said though erecting a hoarding at the toll plaza was allowed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in 2005, the nod of BMC was needed, which seems not taken by the said contractor.
BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar demanded that a single agency be authorised to issue permissions to hoarding contractors, while his party colleague Parag Alavni wondered how a hoarding could be put up without the BMC’s permission.
Alavni demanded the existing law be amended to make erecting illegal hoardings a criminal offence as the existing amount of penalty is much less and needs to be hiked.
Mumbai had witnessed a hoarding collapse tragedy on May 13, 2024, in the Ghatkopar area that killed 17 persons and injured 75 others.
Bhavesh Bhinde, the director of the advertising firm that had installed the giant 120×120 feet hoarding, was later arrested.
An audit found that the hoarding was installed on a weak foundation that couldn’t withstand a wind speed of even 49 kmph, prompting the then government headed by Shinde to conduct a structural audit of hoardings across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
The BMC also framed guidelines for certifying and inspecting billboards in Mumbai. The then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had ordered removal of all illegal hoardings in Mumbai and other cities.
The Bombay High Court on December 19 termed the increasing number of illegal hoardings and banners in Maharashtra as “horrendous” and “a sad situation.”
A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar had issued notices to all political parties directing them to show cause as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for defiance of court orders.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf had submitted to the court that around 22,000 unauthorised hoardings were removed after the elections. The bench, however, said the number was insignificant when the total number of such illegal hoardings was not known.