Mumbai: The BMC has asked the Railways and Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) to submit structural stability certificates of 45 and 12 hoardings on their land within seven days. The civic team has also found 30 hoardings in the BMC's jurisdiction that have not yet submitted their stability certificate. It is mandatory for hoarding owners to take a certificate from the structural engineer after every two years.
As per civic records, there are 1,025 authorised hoardings throughout the city. The civic body earns a revenue of Rs. 100 crores as a licensing fee through these hoardings. The hoarding owner has to obtain no-objection certificates from various departments such as the Building Proposal Department, the Tree Authority, and the Soil Testing Department. After they get these certificates, the further process involves a one-year agreement with the advertiser and a fixed deposit and rental fee. However, considering the safety measures, the BMC never permits any hoarding above 40 x 40 feet in size.
"The western and the central railways and MPT allow erect hoarding on their land as per their policy. According to BMC rules, hoardings should not exceed 40×40 feet, yet some of the billboards are much larger. There should also be a minimum gap of 70 meters between hoardings, which is also not met in some cases. The companies also failed to submit a mandatory structural stability report. We will not renew the license of 30 billboards that have not submitted structural stability certificates. During the hearing, if they complete the procedure, they will get them renewed or their hoardings will be pulled down," said a senior civic official.
Bhushan Gagrani, municipal commissioner said,"We have directed the Railways and MPT to submit the structural stability certificate of the hoardings on their land. If they fail to do so in the next seven days, we are exploring the options of how we can take action on these authorities under the Disaster Management Act 2005, or we can also discuss the issue with the state government. However, we are confident that these authorities will cooperate with us."
