Mumbai: A day after the incident of hoarding collapse that claimed 14 lives, the BMC sent a notice to the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of the Central Railway (CR) and the Western Railway (WR) to remove around 99 oversize hoardings erected on their land.
The notice has been sent exercising the power of Disaster Management Act 2005, said the civic official. Meanwhile, the civic authorities have decided to take the help of experts from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) to examine the structural stability of the collapsed hoardings.
Before permitting the hoarding on private property, the owners have to take a certificate from the structural engineer of the BMC. Also, the civic engineers visit the site and verify if the hoarding is as per the norms and strong enough. They also have to take a certificate from the structural engineer after every two years.
However, considering the safety measures, the BMC never permits any hoarding above 40 x 40 feet in size. Still, there are several huge hoardings in the railway premises that have raised a safety concern in the city. The hoardings are permitted as per the railway policy and no permission from the civic license department is taken at some places.
There are around 179 hoardings on the railway land, out of which 99 are found to be above 120 feet. The highest number (22) of hoardings on railway land are erected in Wadala, Sion and Matunga areas. Some of the other huge hoardings can be seen at Bandra West and Mahim.
Ashwini Joshi, additional municipal commissioner said, "We have asked the railways to immediately remove 99 huge hoardings erected on their land for safety purposes." As per the railway authorities, around 138 hoardings have been erected on 99 locations in Mumbai division of CR and 137 hoardings on 116 locations of WR.
The duration for the hoardings vary from 5 to 7 years and the maximum size is around 100 *40 on CR and 122*120 on WR. Structural audits of these are carried out regularly. The hoardings have been structurally audited from a stability point of view by the engineering department and a detailed structural audit is being carried out as a part of monsoon preparation.
Meanwhile, during an inspection, the civic officials found that the foundation of the collapsed hoarding was weak. So, the civic body has decided to take an expert's call on the issue. Bhushan Gagrani, municipal commissioner said, "The experts from VJTI will examine the foundation related issues." As per civic sources, there are 1,025 hoardings of various sizes across the city of which 573 are illuminated, 70 are LED lit, while 382 are non-illuminated.
