Woken up from deep slumber following the hoarding collapse in Ghatkopar killing 14 people, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) started counting on its negligence.
The structural audit and size of hoardings in Nagpur were started. The audit is likely to be completed within 15 days. The second capital of Maharashtra has 1053 hoardings and their size ranged between 200 sqft to 1200 sqft. These hoardings have been installed with the permission of the civic authorities.
NMC Standing Committee President Pintu Zalke made an application to the Municipal Commissioner and Administrator to carry out an audit of the hoardings in Nagpur. He also mentioned that many hoardings have been installed illegally and violate the permitted marginal space. Several hoardings are very close to electric supply wires and can cause accidents. Zalke demanded immediate action against those who had illegally installed the hoardings and their removal.
Social activist Bhushan Dadwe made a similar application to the District Collector and the Police Commissioner.
NMC had carried out a survey of hoardings in 2021-22. Out of the 800 hoardings, 140 were installed illegally. Rules were framed to identify the legality of a QR Code on the hoardings was made mandatory. By Scanning the QR Code information about the hoarding can be obtained.
Several hoardings have been installed on the land belonging to Indian Railways. NMC’s rules for hoardings are usually violated by such hoardings. The number of such hoardings is about 150.
The incident at Mumbai’s suburb Ghatkopar was an eye-opener for all municipalities and other authorities which are responsible for granting permission to installation of hoardings