14 May,2024 01:01 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The rescue operations being conducted at the collapse site. Pic/Apoorva Agashe
Following the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse, which killed 14 people and injured several others, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya expressed worry over how authorisation for the billboard was issued by a police officer rather than the city's civic body, the BMC.
Speaking to reporters, Somaiya stated that licences for the billboard and the neighbouring petrol pump were granted during Uddhav Thackeray's stint as Maharashtra chief minister. He claimed that stricter control by the then-Director General of Police could have avoided similar instances, reported PTI.
According to the report, Somaiya noted licencing irregularities, noting that despite being approved for a 40-foot-tall hoarding, the fallen billboard was 120 feet tall. He voiced concern over comparable huge and poorly supported hoardings in Mumbai.
Somaiya said, "An ACP of the railway police, which is part of the Maharashtra state police force, permitted the erection of the hoarding on December 7, 2021. How can a police officer give such permission when such rights lie with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)? The permission on paper was for 40 feet hoarding, but in reality, it was 120 feet high."
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He, speaking about the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse, added, "I believe that there are similar 400 hoardings in various parts of Mumbai, which are exceeding their size limits and standing on a weak foundation like the one in Ghatkopar."
He went on to give information on the petrol pump's ownership and operations, as well as the involvement of Lords Mark Industries Pvt Ltd. Somaiya underlined the need to focus on the advertising agency responsible for the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse, as well as the police officers who approved it, the report added.
Elaborating on the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse, Kirit Somaiya said, "It was run by Commissioner of Police Mumbai Railway Kalyan Nidhi Sanstha, but its operations and staff management were with the Lords Mark Industries Pvt Ltd. The monthly rent of the fuel station was Rs 16,97,440. All the permissions for the fuel station and hoardings were given when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister of Maharashtra. But I am not keen on politicising the issue. The focus should be on Bhavesh Bhinde of the Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the advertising agency responsible for erecting the hoarding near the fuel station and the police officials who gave permissions."
"Had the then director general of police been strict, such hoarding would not have come up," he said.
According to the report, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra also expressed his concern about the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse and called for stricter rules on hoardings.
A complaint has been filed against Bhavesh Bhinde and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and the BMC has served notice on the advertising agency responsible for the collapsed hoarding, reported PTI.
An Assistant Police Commissioner obtained permissions for the hoardings on behalf of the Commissioner of Railway Police, Mumbai, without receiving official approval from the BMC, according to a civic official.
