Mumbai: Nearby four months after the over-sized hoarding in Mumbai's Ghatkopar collapsed, killing 17 and injuring over 50 people, the Cental Railway (CR) has removed four giant hoardings and reduced the size of 14 hoardings, an Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed.
The actions follow Supreme Court directives to Central and Western Railways (WR) to comply with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) notice on oversized hoardings.
What RTI Revealed
Activist Anil Galgali, who had put the RTI query to both CR and WR seeking information on actions taken against oversized hoardings, said, "Western Railway did not provide information about the action, saying that the information sought was not clear."
"Out of 18 hoardings on the list, four have been permanently removed. The removed hoardings, two were at Sandhurst Road (3200 ft) and one each Chunabhatti (3200 ft) and Tilak Nagar (1598 ft). M/s Roshan Space had two hoardings, and M/s Pioneer and M/s Alakh had one hoarding each," Galgali said.
Size of 14 Hoardings Reduced
"The locations were hoardings sizes have been reduced includes one in Wadi Bandar, three in Byculla, five in Chunabhatti, three in Suman Nagar and two in Tilaknagar.14 hoardings have been reduced in size including seven of Devangi Outdoor, two of M/s Roshan Space, two of M/s Zest Enterprise and one hoarding each of M/s Wallop, M/s Kothari and M/s Nucleseats," the RTI reply said.
The list of actions taken by Central Railway was provided to Galgali by B Arun Kumar, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager. However, Galgali highlighted that Western Railway's confusion. "The Public Information Officer of the Western Railway, Saurabh Kumar, did not give the information about the action, saying that the information sought was not clear."
What Supreme Court Had Said
Supreme Court had noted that the railway authorities and others had not complied with the BMC’s notice issued on May 15, 2024. Consequently, the court ordered that the directives of the BMC be followed “in letter and spirit” by the railways and other concerned parties.
BMC had issued a notice to advertisers and railway authorities, mandating the immediate removal of hoardings exceeding 40×40 feet in size. This action was prompted by a tragic incident on May 13, 2024, when a massive hoarding collapsed in Ghatkopar, resulting in 17 fatalities and several injuries.
