Action to be taken against illegal Mumbai Billboards after people died, BMC questioned on negligence
As Mumbai was ravaged by a massive dust storm on May 13, the city saw colossal loss of lives and properties. Buildings shuddered, bridges shivered and people were trapped by this unforeseen natural calamity that shook India’s most influential city.
Amidst these circumstances, a hoarding in Ghatkopar fell on a fuel station trapping around 100 people under it. As of now 74 people have been injured, and the death toll has risen to 16. After this unfortunate event, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has come forward to deem the hoarding illegal.
According to the BMC, the allowed length and breadth of a billboard is 40X40. The fallen structure was 120X120, thus massively over-sized. Which the BMC has said is completely prohibited and that they would be taking action against all such oversized hoardings.
But the question that arises from this action is that: the hoarding was 2 and a half years old and was registered as India’s largest billboard under the Limca Book of Records.
So the BMC has had nearly 2 years to file a case and get the hoarding down. Even further, without the BMC’s permission how can an ad company put up the largest billboard? All these questions and loopholes are yet to be answered by the civic body.
The doubts about BMC’s negligence have increased further after Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of Ego Media who put up the billboards, has been exposed to have 23 criminal cases against him including tree poisoning, tree cutting and also as serious as rape.
Bhinde has been given warnings for installing oversize hoardings before. His previous ad company, Guju Ads was also banned and blacklisted by the civic body. Yet he started another company named Ego Media pvt ltd, which has signed many contracts with the Indian Railways and BMC despite numerous warnings.
The billboard that collapsed during the sandstorms also stood on the grounds owned by the Government Railway Police. The GRP when questioned answered that they were about to take action on the billboard and were in the process of documentation when the tragedy struck. The current commissioner of GRP said that permission for the illegal hoarding was given by the former commissioner.
Diving further into the case it has also been revealed that the accused Bhavesh Bhinde has strong political connections and aspired to be an MLA. He had also unsuccessfully fought elections as an independent candidate.
Now Bhinde has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. This means that human death has been caused by the accused, though not intentionally hence it is not murder. The punishment for this charge is imprisonment for 10 years or even a lifetime. A fine also might be included in certain cases.
The accused as of now is absconding and has switched off his mobile phones. But if Bhinde was allowed to roam around free with 23 charges including rape, establish a business, fight elections, and still get contracts for billboards by civic bodies, then one more charge would not amount to much.
The main accountability for the loss of lives remains with the government bodies which are responsible for the well-being of the general well being and must be held accountable. The BMC and the GRP are as much complicit with this crime as Bhavesh Bhinde.
It is also ironic that a corporation that has torn down houses of celebrities, slums, and even huts of destitute citing illegal constructions, only sent written notices to Ego Media to take down the billboards. BMC has the power and authority to take down any illegal hoardings yet they waited until this tragedy to exercise this power.
But this isn’t the only incident that has shed light upon the mismanagement of Mumbai. There are numerous instances to prove how vulnerable the city is to natural calamities, such as:
- Many influencers and films can romanticize Mumbai rains, but the truth of the matter is that every monsoon the city reaches the epitome of unlivable conditions as the city gets flooded with water, halting daily commutes, schools, offices, and other institutions.
- The sea has risen and the land has sunken in Mumbai. And with these continuous floods, the soil of the city has become loose and weak. A video of the 2021 Mumbai floods went viral with a car being swallowed up whole into a sinkhole. The whole city would turn into a sinkhole if the drainage system isn’t updated to control the continuous monsoon floods. Along with that potholes and road collapses are also nothing new in Mumbai.
- Apart from these issues, since the 2005 rainfall in Mumbai that claimed the lives of more than 1000 people, many natural calamities such as rains have resulted in the loss of human lives.
- In 2019 a footbridge connecting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus collapsed after heavy rains. Even though a repair and structural audit was carried out just 6 months before the collapse.
- In 2021 17 people were killed in Chembur, Mumbai as a wall collapsed during rains. In a similar wall collapse incident 19 people were killed in Malad, 2019.
- 23 people were killed in a stampede at the Elphinstone Railway station as the footbridge was overcrowded and four trains arrived simultaneously causing a hurry. As per witnesses, the situation could have been salvaged if the authorities had arrived on time and implemented proper crowd management.
Mumbai is the center of India, not geographically but in every other way. The financial capital, the economic hub, and the cultural conduit. Many people make this city their home in the hopes of making their lives better.
And to make people’s lives better and livable is the duty of the BMC. Given that Mumbai is overcrowded with people from all corners of the country and beyond, it is their responsibility to manage it properly and efficiently.
But with every natural calamity, the city’s management is proven to be inefficient and unorganized. The government promises financial aid to the deceased’s families and the cases are closed. People get angry at BMC and lash out for a while but then everything returns to as it is.
