State industries minister Uday Samant on Monday assured the legislative assembly that the decisions taken during Covid-19 pandemic by the erstwhile MVA government will be thoroughly investigated by the committee that is probing the Ghatkopar hoarding incident of May 13 in which 17 persons were killed.
During a discussion on the calling attention on the Ghatkopar incident, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar alleged that there is a big conspiracy in the hoarding issue. Instead of a policy on hoardings, a policy on street furniture was introduced by the at the behest of a leader of the earlier government. Also, 50 % subsidy was given to hoarding contractors. Also ads on digital screens were permitted in violation of rules and the contractors were allowed to make huge profits.
Shelar alleged that the then Uddhav Thackeray government also held secret meetings with hoarding owners for liaisoning purposes during Corona period. They were given a 50 percent waiver in their license. This conspiracy must be investigated. Also, according to the IIT report, drivers face a lot of inconvenience due to the intense light of LED hoardings. Will this be taken into serious consideration? It was during the Corona period only that permissions were granted to install LED on the hoardings.
While questioning if this was a part of the bigger conspiracy, Shelar pointed out that of the 1,025 gigantic hoardings in Mumbai, 179 are in the railway limits which do not have permission from the BMC. And hence, what action will be taken against these 179 hoardings, he asked.
Responding to it, Minister Uday Samant said that the committee inquiring about the Ghatkopar accident case will be asked to investigate these issues as well.
