More than 400 hoardings have been erected in the city over the period of two decades. Most of these hoardings are unsafe and pose a threat to the lives of the residents.
The hoardings have been erected by breaching the norms prescribed by the government. Still, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has adopted a negligent attitude towards these hoardings. Hence, it is important that these dangerous and also illegal hoardings should be removed to avert any major mishap like Ghatkopar in the city. CSMC gets ₹11 lakh revenue from all these hoardings annually, but for this amount has the corporation put the lives of the ₹18 lakh population in the city in danger, the residents question.
Huge hoardings have been erected at Seven Hills, Akashwani, Mahavir Chowk, Kranti Chowk, Sille Khan and other places along the roads which are always packed by the people. Each hoarding weighs around 30 to 40 tons. If the hoarding collapses, it is a severe threat to the lives of hundreds of people. The biggest hoarding measuring 80 feet wide and 40 feet high is situated at Seven Hills flyover. This huge iron structure has been situated here for several years now. Only the advertisements on this structure are changed frequently but the iron structure remains the same. It weighs around 40 tons. More than 100 vehicles stop at the traffic signal here at a time. If this structure collapses, it will be a severe threat to the residents.
The government has issued directives that the hoardings should not be erected along the roads, prior permission of the traffic department should be taken, there should be a distance of around one meter between two hoardings and others. However, all the directives have been breached while erecting the hoardings in the city.
Around 20 hoardings in the city are owned by CSMC, 410 by the private agencies and there are around 30 to 40 illegal hoardings erected without the prior permission of the authorities. However, no action has been taken on the illegal hoardings until now.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Aparna Thete called a meeting of all the private agencies on Wednesday. Out of the total 13 agencies, the representatives of 10 agencies were present. None of them objected to conducting the structural audit of the iron structures. A decision was taken that the structural audit should be conducted by the officers appointed on the CSMC panel. The audit will be completed within the next 15 days, the sources said.
