Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: How did hoarding go from 200 sq ft to 33,600 sq ft?

The site of the billboard collapse on May 15. Pic/Shadab Khan

Suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid has claimed that one month before his transfer, he only gave the go-ahead for erecting a 200-sq-ft hoarding to Ego Media as per the terms and conditions of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited pump in Ghatkopar East.

According to Khalid, after he handed over charge to his successor Ravindra Shisve, the latter overlooked certain terms and conditions. Khalid also claimed that some of the dates in the documents had been tampered with to make it seem that he was responsible for approving the oversized hoarding. In his statement, Khalid has explained everything about the Ghatkopar hoarding from the e-tendering process, which was initiated by his predecessor Ravindra Sengaonkar.

Former Government Railway Police Commissioner Quaiser Khalid; (right) Khalid's successor Ravindra Shisve

According to Khalid's statement to the Mumbai Crime Branch two days before the charge sheet was filed, the e-tender for four hoardings in Ghatkopar was initiated by his predecessor in 2020 and after he took over, he proceeded according to the terms and conditions. Khalid claimed that the initial tender was issued by BPCL, and the winning bidder was Qicom Brand Solution. However, since Qicom was not paying the Railways, a fresh bid was invited, and the contract was awarded to Ego Media, as it was the highest bidder.

‘Sought legal opinions'

Khalid mentioned that they sought legal opinions from former Bombay High Court judge Nirgude, the APS law firm and the legal officer of Railways. He clarified that he never stated that the land belonged to the Indian Railways. The e-tender mentioned that the land belonged to the state government, but the title of the land was under the home department, government railway headquarters. Khalid pointed out that while the BMC collected taxes, the hoarding concerns were related to the Railways. The legal opinion clearly indicated that BMC approval was not required for land under railway jurisdiction. Khalid claimed he was unaware of who paid the legal fees to Justice Nirgude and the law firm. The charge sheet claims that it was Ego Media who had done so.

The site of the billboard collapse on May 13. File pic ; (right) Bhavesh Bhinde, head of Ego Media, who is named in charge sheet

Khalid further explained that the director general of police (DGP) office's permission was not sought because, in September 2020, it approved a BPCL-operated petrol pump at Ghatkopar, which was 60x60 sq m. The proposal for the pump was sent by Sengaonkar and was approved by the DGP office. Khalid clarified in his statement that the approval and design already included permission for a hoarding. Therefore, he did not seek additional permission from the DGP office, as it had been pre-approved during Sengaonkar's tenure.

Other claims

According to Khalid, he approved a 200 sq ft hoarding on November 22, 2022 and noted that if the size were to be increased, the rent for the GRP should be considered. This issue remained unresolved when he handed over charge to Shisve. Until April 21, 2023, Shisave did not decide on the matter and forwarded a proposal to the DGP office to regularise the hoarding size to 33,600 sq ft. The DGP office rejected this proposal and instead issued a show-cause notice to Shisve.

Quaiser Khalid's statement to Crime Branch

Shisve responded to the DGP office on September 16, 2023, arguing that the plot was commercial and would remain so even without the hoarding, thus permission should be granted. However, the office did not grant the permission. Khalid claimed that Shisve also received multiple complaints about the illegal hoarding being larger than the size approved by him [Khalid]. These complaints were made by former Ghatkopar corporator and BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, RTI activist Anil Galgali and social activist Saleem Pathan.

According to Khalid, Ego Media submitted an application for revised rental where the size of the billboard was increased to 33,600 sq ft on December 19, 2022, his last day in office. And as this was a policy matter, he refused to take any decision and asked the office to put up the matter before Shisve.

According to Khalid, BPCL objected to the scale of digging by Ego Media on the plot allocated for running the pump. An office note was put up before Shisve on December 21, 2022, as it violated Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) licence conditions, and a request for the stoppage of work was made. According to Khalid, Shisve failed to take any action on the violation of the original order dated November 22, 2022 by him, which permitted a hoarding up to 200 sq ft in size, as per the standard design of the petrol pump.

Notice before mishap

Khalid further stated that on April 30, 2024, 13 days before the hoarding collapsed, the BMC issued a notice to the GRP to remove the illegal hoarding. However, it appears that Shisve did not take any action on this and instead continued to collect rent from EGO Media. According to sources, Ego Media was paying around 12 lakh per month for the hoarding, and by the time it collapsed, over one crore had been paid to the Railways.

Khalid's statement concludes, "It appears that Shisve did not act on these aspects, and hence, on May 13, the illegal hoarding collapsed due to a natural disaster, killing 17 people and injuring more than 80."

He also claimed that the construction work took place during Shisve's tenure and that it was the latter's responsibility to check the hoarding's stability. According to Khalid, the land at the site was soft and marshy. While in typical cases in Mumbai, digging to a depth of three meters is sufficient, at Ghatkopar, a depth of 10 metres is required to reach hard rock.

Other side

In his statement, Shisve said that he was shocked when it was brought to his notice that approval from the DGP office had not been taken for the hoarding. He immediately asked his office to prepare a letter to inform his superiors, and the letter was sent to the DGP office. As commissioner, he was handling law and order, crime control, and administrative work, which kept him busy. When he eventually followed up on the letter sent to the DGP office, he was informed that no response had been received and that the letter had not been acknowledged. Consequently, he wrote a fresh letter on April 21, 2023.

He added that in August 2023, an ADG-rank officer sent him a letter and spoke to him on the phone about how permission was granted for the hoarding, asking him to prepare a detailed report. "On September 16, 2023, I sent a clarification to the DGP office. Later, I learned that a show-cause notice was issued to Khalid by the DGP office. Khalid then called one of the junior clerks in my office and asked for all the files to review. The clerk sought my permission, which I granted. After that, there were no further orders from the DGP office until the hoarding collapsed," Shisve's statement reads.

Shisve claimed that complaints made by the corporator and activists were never brought to his notice. "You won't see any remarks from me on those complaints. I have 21 years of experience in the service, and addressing such complaints is my responsibility."

April 30
Day BMC issued notice concerning hoarding