Ghatkopar hoardings erected without structural verification, proper tender process: Probe panel

The committee, in its report,  has pinpointed “criminal conspiracy” involving suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, BMC official Sunil Dalvi, and Ego Media directors Bhavesh Bhinde and Janhavi Marathe, along with businessman Mohammed Arshad Khan.

The report, accessed by The Indian Express, was submitted to the government in May this year, and the state cabinet accepted it, along with its recommendations and conclusions, on Tuesday.

On May 13, 2024, a massive hoarding, measuring 120 feet in width, 140 feet in length, and 180 feet in height, collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar, which led to the death of 17 people and injured 80 others.

An inquiry committee was formed on June 10, 2024, under the chairmanship of Justice Bhosale to probe every aspect of the hoarding collapse.

These are some of the key findings in the report:

On land ownership

The committee found that the land on which the hoardings were erected was partly owned by the Maharashtra government for Railway Police use and partly under the Police Welfare Corporation.

The BMC regulations stipulate that hoardings cannot exceed 40×40 feet without explicit permission from BMC authorities.

Originally, a Railway Police e-tender had allowed Ego Media to construct three back-to-back hoardings of 40×40 feet each, covering 9,600 square feet in total, for ten years.

However, the land was, later, allegedly mischaracterised as “railway property” under the Railways Act, 1989, a designation the Bhosale committee described as “legally incorrect” since the land was state-owned, and not part of the Railways.

This misclassification, the committee observed, became the pretext for bypassing municipal regulations and permitting subsequent illegal enlargements of the hoarding that subsequently led to its collapse.

“The government officials, institutional representatives, and individuals who granted or received these permissions bear serious responsibility and warrant investigation,” the committee’s report stated.

“The land on which the hoardings were erected belonged to the Government of Maharashtra, not the Railways. Therefore, permissions granted under the pretext that BMC regulations did not apply were invalid, and the lack of planning directly contributed to the accident,” it said.

Further, the report mentioned that permission was granted for the hoarding erection solely for revenue purposes without any structural verification.

“The hoardings were constructed without any municipal permission. Furthermore, no structural stability certificates, design approvals, or engineering clearances were obtained. The GRP Commissioner incorrectly assumed uncertainty regarding BMC jurisdiction, granting permission for the hoarding erection solely for revenue purposes without any structural verification,” it said.

Illegal approvals, hoarding expansions

The committee has stated that once Khalid became the GRP Commissioner, he unilaterally and without issuing fresh tenders or taking permission from the DGP office, approved several illegal relaxations.

Firstly, Khalid permitted an increase in the size of the three hoarding structures such that the total frontage became 38,400 sq ft as opposed to 9,600 sq. ft. which was originally permitted, it said.

Secondly, he increased the period of the right to operate the three hoarding structures from ten years to thirty years. Thirdly, he granted Ego Media rights to construct a fourth hoarding of size 120 ft x 140 ft and to operate it for a period of thirty years, the report said.

It further noted that these were done without issuing a fresh tender or seeking approval from the Director General of Police.

“The grant of right to construct the additional hoarding (viz. the said Hoarding Structure) to Ego Media was simultaneous with refusal to let one Qicom install a hoarding at the same site. Mr. Khalid refused the request of Qicom to install the additional hoarding without even inviting their commercial proposal, and gave the said right to Ego Media without any tender process or DGP approval. All of this was done in spite of opposition from BMC and BPCL…,” the report stated.

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