Nagpur: Following the collapse of a hoarding in Mumbai in which 14 people were killed and scores injured, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has activated its machinery to survey all the hoarding sites in its limits before the onset of monsoon. The Mumbai hoarding was found to be illegal.
On Tuesday, senior officials of the civic body took a review of the permissions granted for hoardings and noted that about 1,053 private sites in the city have been rented for hoardings. In most of these places, structures of significant heights have been put up using iron rods for advertisements.Further, a 15-day drive is going to be undertaken by NMC to rule out any illegal hoardings of any problem with structural stability of any one of them.
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Wednesday01 Jan. 2025
As per NMC, about 13 types of documents are sought while issuing permission for putting-up hoardings. For the same, the civic officials rely on Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Rules wherein Section 244 of Sky Sign and Advertising Display Regulation and Control Rule 2022 are framed. The competent authority, while granting permission, does spot inspection based on the documents submitted and also seeks certificates about stability of erected structures from the Structural Engineer.
To make the system more foolproof, NMC in the year 2021-22 and 2022-23, also engaged a private agency to carry out a survey of the number of hoardings put-up in the city and their sites and these sites were tagged on GIS location to help pinpoint the spot accurately. This GIS data now enables civic body officials to know if any illegal hoarding has been put up.
In the aftermath of the Mumbai incident, wherein a huge illegal hoarding failed to withstand gusty winds and collapsed on a fuel filling station killing 14 and injuring several others, the NMC has decided to re-check the structural stability of all the hoardings in Nagpur. The Revenue Department has been directed to recheck the documents and licence issued for putting-up hoardings in the city, including those in private locations.
The re-checking is to be more particular to ensure that the concessionaire has not violated the norms and the hoarding matches with the documented permission issued to them. Also the resurvey and recheck would also weed out any illegal hoardings that may have come-up anywhere within municipal corporation limits.
In case any site is noticed where illegal hoarding is put up, then necessary action would be initiated by NMC. Already, the Urban Development Department, Maharashtra Government, has issued a general order directing all local bodies to undertake review of the hoardings within their jurisdiction. For the same, NMC has formed two squads to undertake surveys of hoardings. Due to hefty rent charged by local bodies for permitting putting-up a hoarding, most of the advertisers have opted for private sites.
