Site of the hoarding collapse at Ghatkopar, in Mumbai.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: More than a year after a massive hoarding collapsed killing 17 persons and injuring 80 others in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has decided to come out with a stricter policy for hoardings based on the recommendations of a committee headed by Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd) and an Action Taken Report (ATR) prepared by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) I S Chahal.
The son of former Chief Minister Babasaheb Bhosale, Justice Bhosale, a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, had earlier served as a Judge of the Hyderabad High Court, Karnataka High Court, and Bombay High Court.
On 13 May, 2024, 120x120-foot hoarding on a railway land measuring bigger than an Olympic size pool and nine times more than the maximum permitted size for a hoarding, crashed over the petrol station and CNG pump in Pantnagar off the Chheda Nagar junction in Ghatkopar off the Eastern Express Highway during an unexpected dust storm hit Mumbai and the larger Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR).
Following this, the Maharashtra government appointed Justice Bhosale to investigate the issue.
Justice Bhosale submitted the report to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on 7 May, after which Chahal was asked to prepare an ATR.
The report and ATR was discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, which decided to come out with a new policy.
The ATR states that, henceforth, no hoarding exceeding 40X40 in size will be allowed, with a minimum height of 11 feet and a maximum height of 60 feet. All the illegal hoardings across the state will be removed immediately by the civic or local authorities.