The billboard that collapsed on Monday during the sand storm in Ghatkopar’s Pant Nagar, claiming the lives of 14 people and injuring 69 others, was already under the scanner of civic agencies for a year over violations.
In December 2023 and again two weeks ago in April, the BMC’s tree department filed an official complaint with the police against the agency, according to a report by The Indian Express. Civic officials stated that indigenous trees such as Subabul, Peepal, and Peltophorum, planted around the billboard, had mysteriously perished.
An official from the BMC’s zonal tree department reported two separate incidents of tree deaths along the EEH, one occurring in December last year and the other in April this year. They discovered that holes had been drilled in the trunks of the trees in an attempt to inject poison, resulting in the trees losing their leaves and eventually dying.
The land parcel where the billboard was installed is owned by the Mumbai collector and is currently under the possession of the Police Housing Welfare Corporation, a government entity in Maharashtra.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) in 2020 issued a tender to hire private agencies to install billboards on the land. In 2021, M/s Ego Media was appointed by the GRP to set up the billboards, and they were granted a No Objection Certificate (NOC). Presently, there are four hoardings erected on the plot.
The civic authorities also mentioned that the agency did not obtain any permission from them to operate this billboard. The representative of the agency declined to comment, The Indian Express reported.
A senior GRP officer stated that GRP commissioner Ravindra Shisve instructed the relevant officer to investigate when and by whom permission was granted for erecting the hoarding on the GRP land, and whether all regulations were properly adhered to.
On Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s ward office sent a notice to M/s Ego Media, the private agency responsible for maintaining the billboards, asking it to dismantle all the structures and pull down the hoardings immediately.
“BMC allows a maximum hoarding size of 40×40 feet. However, the billboard that collapsed was 120×120 feet. As a result, the local ward office issued a notice to the agency today, asking them to dismantle the structure and remove all hoardings with immediate effect,” authorities said.