PMRDA to file FIRs against owners of 1000 illegal hoardings in its jurisdiction

”We don’t have a single legal hoarding in our jurisdiction. This is because all of them were put up before our sky sign department was set up and were erected before PMRDA came into being in 2015. Under the gram panchayat, no permission was sought. People continued to erect them at that particular spot illegally,” PMRDA chief Rahul Mahiwal told The Indian Express today.

Mahiwal said that during an inspection conducted till March 2024, they had found 1,057 illegal hoardings in PMRDA jurisdiction. ”We issued notices to the owners asking them to attend the hearings. Only 210 of them attended but gave unsatisfactory replies, while 857 hoarding owners evaded our notice,” he said. Of the total illegal hoardings, Mulshi has the highest —386 hoardings— followed by 120 in Haveli taluka.

From Monday, Mahiwal said they will start filing FIRs. ”If there are more than 1,000 individuals who have set up illegal hoardings, FIRs will be filed against all of them, following which, we will start demolishing them,” he said.

Mahiwal also said that as a precautionary measure, those who had put up hoardings will be asked to take steps to guard the hoardings during gusty winds and heavy rain. ”There is a possibility of hoardings suddenly collapsing with strong winds and heavy rain. We will ask them to ensure that hoardings remain on firm footing,” he said.

On the other hand, PCMC administration, which has launched an inspection in the aftermath of the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident, wherein 16 people died, said that 24 illegal hoardings have been found so far.

”Tomorrow is the last day of the inspection. We expect to find more illegal hoardings. We will start filing FIRs Monday and simultaneously demolish them,” Deputy Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Khot told The Indian Express.

Civic activist Lahu Landge said, ”Hundreds of hoardings, especially those greeting politicians, are regularly put up and remain at the spot. Civic officials don’t initiate action against them as they fear politicians will complain to the state government. If PCMC says they found only 24 illegal hoardings, it means the survey was half-hearted. PCMC commissioner should himself tour the city fo a reality check of the actual situation.”

In the wake of several hoarding collapses with loss to life and property in the past week, both PCMC and PMRDA are still debating on ways to make hoardings safe.

”We are talking to experts. Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh has taken the initiative to explore methods by which hoardings do not collapse once erected. We are going to utilise different available technologies and the help of experts,” Khot said.

In April last year, Pimpri-Chinchwad had seen its worst hoarding tragedy when an illegal one in Kiwale collapsed, killing 5 people. It had prompted PCMC to demolish 191 illegal hoardings and stop issuing fresh permissions.

Khot said unlike in Ghatkopar which had a mammoth sized hoarding, in Pimpri-Chinchwad only 20 feet by 40 feet hoardings are permitted. ”This time, if we find the smallest deviation from the permitted size, we will demolish the hoarding,” he said. The area under PCMC jurisdiction 1,136 authorised hoardings.

Mahiwal said he would speak to the PCMC commissioner to arrive at a concrete solution to render hoardings safe.