In the wake of the Mumbai hoarding collapse that claimed the lives of 16 people, the municipal corporations of other major cities across the country are reviewing their structural permits of billboards to take appropriate action to prevent any similar tragic incidents.
After the Mumbai tragedy, the Maharastra government’s disaster management department issued an advisory to all municipal corporations and district disaster management authorities to audit the hoardings in urban and highway areas.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also issued notices to the administrations of the Central Railway and the Western Railway for the removal of oversized hoardings erected on their land.
In a release issued on Wednesday evening, the Mumbai civic body said that under Section 30 (2) (V) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, notices have been issued to the concerned authorities for the removal of hoardings above 40 x 40 feet size.
“Taking into consideration the geographical position of Mumbai, the coastal region, its weather and wind conditions, the civic body has decided not to permit the erection of hoardings larger than 40×40 feet in size,” the release said.
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Delhi
In the national capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has asked all advertising agencies to conduct structural audits and assess the strength of pillars and unipoles.
“We have asked all empanelled advertisers and contractors working with the advertisement department to carry out a structural audit of their unipoles and advertisement structures immediately and ensure that none of these structures are unstable or damaged so as to avoid any unforeseen incident. In case there are any lapses, those have to be resolved on priority”. the MCD order said.
The civic body also instructed officials to identify illegal unipoles and take appropriate action to prevent any tragedy.
In Delhi, the authorised billboard size for roads wider than 100 feet is 32×16 feet and for roads less than 100 feet in width, it is 20×10 feet.
Central Railways
The Central Railway authorities have also ordered all of its five divisions to conduct an audit of hoarding and billboards in their respective zones.
“A detailed structural audit is being carried out and will be completed shortly as per the instructions of Ram Karan Yadav, the general manager of the Central Railway,” Railways chief spokesperson Swapnil Nila said.
Chhattisgarh
The Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) has instructed all advertising agencies to submit a structural report of their hoardings installed in the Chhattisgarh capital.
RMC Commissioner Abinash Mishra on Tuesday chaired a meeting of directors of various ad agencies and the corporation officials and asked to ensure that the Mumbai-like tragedy should not happen in Raipur.
Mishra instructed the directors and representatives of more than 90 advertising agencies to submit to the RMC within a week the structural report of their hoardings put up in the city. Further, the ad agencies will have to submit a certificate related to the structural probe to the town and country planning department of the RMC.
The commissioner instructed that no untoward incident should take place in Raipur due to hoardings and that all necessary measures should be taken to prevent billboards from falling. A discussion was also held in the meeting on the effective implementation of the advertisement policy within the RMC’s jurisdiction, he added.
Uttar Pradesh
The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has also launched an aggressive campaign to remove hazardous hoardings and unipoles across the city. The LMC has set a three-day deadline for agencies to complete the process of removing illegal billboards, according to a report by Hindustan Times.
Municipal commissioner Inderjeet Singh has warned of punitive actions against the responsible parties if results are not delivered on time.
The report quoted a senior LMC official, saying that over 525 dangerously placed advertising hoardings and 200 billboards were taken down some time ago, only to reappear shortly after. Notices were issued for other suspected weak structures, but no further action was taken.
Karnataka
The Karnataka government banned unauthorised flexes, banners and hoardings in Bengaluru city last year. However, as per a report by Deccan Herald, several such structures still exist in the city.
Quoting a senior Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) official, the report said Begaluru’s civic body has taken note of Mumbai’s unfortunate incident and will survey the illegal hoardings in the city.
“Although we have banned outdoor advertisements, there have been complaints about the illegal billboards. Some advertisers have brought a court stay to erect hoardings. We will start clearing illegal billboards from today,” he said.
Overview of Mumbai Hoarding Collapse in Ghatkopar
On Monday evening, a 120×120 feet hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump at Chheda Nagar in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai due to gusty winds and unseasonal rains, claiming the lives of 16 persons and injuring 75 others.
According to the civic body, the collapsed hoarding stood on a piece of land in possession of the Government Railway Police (GRP). The Ghatkopar incident prompted the civic body to undertake a drive for the removal of illegal and dangerous hoardings across the city.
The civic body has claimed that it has undertaken a drive for the demolition of illegal hoardings “on war footing” and it has already started the demolition of the remaining three hoardings on the GRP’s land in Ghatkopar. It claimed that they were erected without obtaining permission from the civic body.
Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal commission has started taking action on illegal hoardings in the city.
Action has been taken against 1,564 illegal temporary hoardings and posters in Pune. Pune civic body had issued an order to conduct a structural audit of all legal hoardings in the city.
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