Mumbai: The BMC has asked the Government Railway Police (GRP) to send a list of all the hoardings permitted by them on GRP land in Mumbai. The civic body had already pulled down 16 oversized hoardings on GRP land, after the billboard collapsed incident in Ghatkopar that claimed 17 lives and injured 75.
While GRP has co-operated and requested BMC to remove their oversize hoardings, the Railways has informed civic body that the hoardings are permitted as per their policy, said a senior civic official.
On May 13, a giant billboard of 120X120 ft. crashed on a petrol pump on the Eastern Express Highway at Ghatkopar. In a review after the incident, it was found that 306 hoardings had been permitted by the Railways and the GRP on their property.
The BMC had prepared a list of 45 oversized hoardings allowed by Railway and GRP that are above BMC's permissible limit of 40 by 40 ft. Out of which, eight in Dadar TT and another seven hoardings at Ghatkopar were pulled down by the civic staff last week.
"We have asked GRP to update us on all the hoardings permitted by them and also ensure that the hoardings get all the requisite permission to avoid any such mishap in the future. We have requested both the railway authorities and GRP, either to remove the hoardings or make them of permissible size. However, we have received a letter from railways that says hoardings erected on their premises are permitted as per railway policy," said a senior civic official.
Ashwini Joshi, additional municipal commissioner, confirmed the development. "We will seek legal opinion and will send our reply to the railways soon. However, sources from the railways said the issue is under discussion. As per the civic official, in 2017, the Western Railways and other hoarding companies the Bombay High Court (HC) stating that the railway authorities should not need permission for hoardings on their land. The HC held that the Railways don’t need BMC’s permission to permit hoardings. The corporation took the issue before the apex court this year. In March, the BMC filed an additional affidavit pointing out that the railways authorities were granting permission to put up “large-sized hoardings near railway tracks (adjacent to municipal roads) without considering the safety of the public”.
