Mumbai Ghatkopar Hoarding Collapse: Billboard Was Installed On Weak Foundation, Reveals VJTI Report

The billboard that crashed in Ghatkopar last month was deficient in design and built on a weak foundation, as per a report submitted by two experts from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI). 

The billboard was 120X120 ft, way beyond the BMC’s permissible limit of 40X40 ft. It succumbed to gusty winds, claiming 17 lives and injuring 75 people at a petrol pump. According to the VJTI report, the structure should have been able to withstand wind speeds of 158 kmph but was built only for 49 kmph. On the day of the incident, the wind speed was 87 kmph. 

The report further pointed out that its foundation could resist an overturning of 7,000 kilo newtons (a measure of pressure/force) but the overturning moment exerted due to wind on the day of the incident was about 21,000 kilo newtons.

Technical experts from VJTI had collected samples of the foundation and piling of the structure after the incident. The institute has also submitted the report to the Mumbai crime branch, which is probing the hoarding collapse incident.