Following the fatal billboard collapse in Ghatkopar which claimed 16 lives and injured 75 others, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now tightened its surveillance on authorised hoardings across the city. Besides removing unauthorised hoardings, ward-level offices have started issuing notices to legal billboards within their wards, instructing them to carry out structural audits, as stipulated by the guidelines outlined in BMC’s 2008 document titled ‘Guidelines for permitting display of advertisements and similar signs’. Earlier this week, with BMC’s top officials calling for strict measures against unauthorised hoardings, the civic body had sprung into action and started removing illegal hoardings which were found in violation of the civic policy norms. Even as the search operation for the victims was underway, the BMC had started removing two hoardings in Malad, which had been erected without the civic body’s nod, alongside removing three unauthorised hoardings in the vicinity of the site of the accident. According to senior civic officials, the BMC has now turned its gaze towards the authorised hoardings in the city, with ward offices asking the owners/ agencies to carry out a structural audit of the hoardings. Speaking to The Indian Express, Manish Valanju, assistant municipal commissioner from K/East ward, which has one of the highest number of hoardings in the city, said that besides reviewing the structural audit reports submitted by the engineer, they will also conduct their own visual inspection. “Each ward maintains a list of authorised hoardings in their jurisdiction. While we have no illegal hoardings, we have issued notices to all licensed hoarding owners in our ward, wherein we have asked them to submit a structural audit report. While the audit reports will come from a recognised structural engineer, we will also be carrying out our own visual inspections. We will conduct this inspection following the submission of the structural audit report by when most of the BMC workers will also have returned back from their election duty,” said Valanju. Sanjay Jadhav, assistant municipal commissioner (P/South), told The Indian Express, “We have issued notice to all the authorised hoardings to conduct structural audits and also inspected for illegal hoardings. We have found no unauthorised hoardings and all were found in line with the 40 ft by 40 ft size norm. Meanwhile, we have started pulling down one hoarding whose contract term has expired.” Mumbai is home to 1,025 authorised hoardings, of which 573 are non-illuminated, 382 are illuminated and 70 are LED hoardings. These hoardings had generated a revenue of Rs 100 crore last year. As per the civic body’s norms for the city's billboards, the private agencies are issued licences by the BMC for a period of two years, following which the renewal is done after submission of a new structural audit report, which are conducted by private engineering firms that are empaneled or registered with the BMC. So far, however, senior officials from the licence department told The Indian Express that the BMC had not revoked licences of any hoarding operators for non-compliance or flouting of norms. “We do not cancel licences outright. Instead, licensed hoardings must undergo a structural audit by an accredited body every two years. If the BMC identifies any issues during these audits, we recommend corrective actions,” explained a senior official. In the wake of the Ghatkopar hoarding mishap, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the accident site and directed the municipal commissioner to conduct a structural audit of all hoardings in Mumbai. Following this, on Tuesday, BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani instructed all ward officials to identify all hoardings in their ward and pull down any billboard which is found illegal.
